Bagnaia won (his first race of 2022 en route to the championsh🥃ip) ahead of then-champion and title 🦋rival Quartararo, with Espargaro down in P7.

But Aprilia rider Espargaro, one of many returning to their home race at the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Spanish MotoGP this ꩵweekend, ins✤ists he is a threat to claim victory.

“Fabio, this year? Him or the Yamaha are not at the leܫvel of last🎃 year, it looks like,” Espargaro said.

“Pecco? After the crash in America, maybe he will lose ꧑s🦩ome confidence.

“Let’s see how the race is. I wa෴s very strong last year, I was stuck♈ behind Marc Marquez and Jack Miller for many laps.

“Then when I had free space I was at🅘 a similar pace to the winners.

“It can be a good circuit for us.

“I’m ꧅going for the win. It sounds strange but I think I’m faster t🌱han last year.

“In America I did the second-fastest lap💟 in the race, I finished fourth in the sprint in my w💫orst circuit.

“I have the speed. I have nothing to chan�༺�ge. Just relax, try to have fun.”

Aleix Espargaro: "You believe it will never fail, but..."

Espargaroไ had claimed a P4 finish in the sprint race at the Grand Prix of the Americas last time out but his challenge in the Sunday race was over within ꦑone lap.

He blamed it on his ride height device failing to꧙ unlock - in Jerez, he admits it is a fundamental issue with his Aprilia which could resurface.

“I still believe that I did the first part ꦬwith the bike low, when I touched the throttle I had no weight at the front. So something was not working,” Espargaro said.

“Our probl♓em - and this is difficult to change - is that, in other brands like Ducati, when you aren’t able to brake super-strong in the corner, the ride height device recovers 75% or 90% of the stroke. Then you can ride.

“If our brake isn’tꦏ strong enough, the ride height device doesn🌜’t recover anything.

“This is why I did the very lap with the bike low. It’💧s something we can’t change.

“We didn’t have these problems in presea𝓡son in Malaysia. 

“When the bike🐈 arrived into the garage, I was told the bike was low.

“It is clear in th♛e data that the bike was in the right position. But when I touched the throttle, the bike was low.”

Is it something Espargaro must work on solving?

“No. It can happen again,” he said. “Last ꦡyear I had the same problem here in Jerez. I touched Marc Marquez, my ride height device didn’t recover. So I went wide, Marc overtook in Corner 1, then in Corner 2, my rear ride height device recovered.”

He insisted i༺t would not damage his confidence: “No because you believe it will never fail. 

“There are many things in the bike t𒁏hat can fail, but you can’t think ‘is this working?’

“In the fut🍌ure if we ban the ride height device while we are riding, it will be easier.

“But the starts? In the last seasons🀅 it has been easier - less wheelies. The ri🥃ders’ behaviour is more clean.”