MotoGP Jerez: ‘Important to be fast but to use the brain’ - Espargaro

Aleix Espargaro claimed his third front row start of 2022 as the Aprilia project continued to prove its potential at Jerez on Saturday.

While Espargaro’s Friday afternoon didn’t set the world alight, steady improvement across the second day at the Spanish GP was rewarded with the third fastest lap in qualifying - a 1’36.933 - on his final attempt.

“Today I risk, I give it everything because I was not super good with a soft rear tyre,” the Aprilia rider admitted. “Portimao I risked my life a little bit more because it was super tricky conditions but I’m happy.

“I’m happy because Pecco today was in another planet. He put everything together and he was super strong at one single lap. We know how equal is this category so to make this difference is super difficult. He did a perfect lap so chapeau for him.

“From FP1 yesterday I felt good, strong, fast with the medium rear tyre but as soon as I put the soft tyre I had a lot of chattering. I couldn’t be very, very fast so, happy with the pace we have, also happy with my qualifying lap. Third place is very good. The pace is there, we are strong. We have good pace. So we are ready for tomorrow.

“With a medium tyre I think we are fast,” he said on his Sunday potential. “I put more than 20 laps on FP4 and in the last laps I was able to stay in 37-highs, which is very strong pace so it’s going to be a fun battle tomorrow.

“We will see a completely different race than what we’ve seen in qualifying because the medium tyre is quite different than the soft. Tomorrow they say it’s going to be very, very hot and after the Moto2 race, the track will be slippery but it’s going to be fun and we have good options.

“Normally you try to have some strategy but in MotoGP this year is almost