Thailand MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro “sad, not angry” after Motegi blunder - he revealed an inspirational team meeting

Aprilia rider Espargaro’s hopes of closing the gap to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Fabio Quartararo were dashed when he desperately swapped bikes after🐭 the warm-up lap at Motegi becau🍸se his RS-GP was stuck in ‘eco’ mode.
Due to start in sixth, he instead joined last and finished in 16th - he arrives for the Thailand MotoGP third in the 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:MotoGP 2022 standings but 25 points behind Quartararo.
“I was quite sa𝓡🦄d, not angry, about what happened on Sunday,” he said.
“I went to Tokyo, had dinner with my team, I love every single person, and they were more down than me! I am the leader꧒. I said: 'Head up'.
“I will try to recover points here.
“We used that mistake to reanalys𓆉e everything, to try to improve. It was not as simple as it l🧸ooked, the problem.
“It was a human mistake. It can happen.”

Espargaro’s misery was cemented when his two title rivals, Quartararo and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Francesco Bagnaia, never contested victory in Japan.
Bagnaia crashed out and Quartararo finished eighth, while 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Jack Miller won, meaning Espargaro missed his chance to drastically reduce𒐪 his gap to the top spot in the standings♚.
“I was🔯 upset, not just for the mistake, but for how the race went,” he said. “It was shocking that they were fighting for eighth place.
“25 points is not that much. The level is very high. If the leader ha🌜💯s a bad day he can finish out of the top 10.
“I am fully positive.
“I hope we can ride on dr🌊y but, if it's wet, I was fast in Japan.”

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a d༺ecade covering everything from Amer🧸ican sports, to football, to F1.