MotoGP Le Mans: Espargaro confident of title fight despite ‘insane level’

Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia dream continued at Le Mans with his third consecutive front row and podium in Sunday’s FrenchGP.

The points also promoted the Noale Factory outfit to the head of the team’s championship standings, a first for the burgeoning project as the RS-GP and its Spanish rider continue to go from strength to strength.

“Yeah, I’m very happy,” Espargaro confirmed on Sunday evening. “Le Mans is not really a track where I enjoy riding because you have to stop a lot the bike. Actually, it’s not that I don’t like but my riding style is better on the fast corners when I’m able to be fast in the middle of the corner, you cannot here. So very happy to show good performance here in Le Mans.

“Has been very difficult to block Fabio [Quartararo] all the race and to recover some points to Fabio here in his home GP. In dry conditions I would never expect it so I’m very happy. We’re just four points behind him so very good!”

Four points adrift of the reigning champion in the current standings was the perfect reward after 27-laps of ensuring the Monster Energy Yamaha remained behind him on a track he openly admits to struggling with across both the weekend and race.

“I had no grip at all, front and rear, and I couldn’t have good acceleration,” Espargaro explained further. “The Ducatis were extremely fast today on acceleration. So I tried to rush more in the mid-corner but I lose the front many times.

“In a certain moment after my high-side, I say ‘Okay, that’s it, relax mate, leave them just half second, to reduce a little bit the pressure on the front tyre’. I had the alarm on the dash, the tyre was on fire!

“So yes, I give them just half second, I start to ride a little bit more comfortable and then many crashes because