The disappointment of the Qatar MotoGP for Aprilia and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Aleix Espargaro has been likened to “a blunt knife”.

Espargaro, at one of his favourite tracks, enjoyed a roaring conclusion to the Sಞaturday sprint race, earning a podium finish, and was the favourite to win Sunday’s grand prix with many inside the paddock, as a result.

But a disappointing outing resulted in aꦛ P8 finish, blamed on poor rear grip.

“Weird,” was how TNT Sports’ Mich🐽ael Laverty summed up Espargaro’s race.

“Something strange happened,” he added.

“He neve꧂r had any fight from the off. He was getting beaten up, overtaken, on the first two or three laps.

“Then we e꧋xpected, when he was only 3.84s off the lead, that it’s going to kick into gear for him. The grip will come to Aleix.

“But it never happened and he drop♉ped further behind.

“It may have been t🦩he cooler track temperature or everyone else just figuring things out overnight🌼.

“But it did seem like Aprilia were a blunt knife.

“They should have been the package which fought the Ducatis,▨ but they just didn’t have it.🦹”

Espargaro, the oldest👍 rider on the 2024 MotoGP grid at 34, admitted that he woke up on Sunday morning expecting 𓆏he could win in Qatar.

But he admitted to the quick realisation𒁏 that he was “extremely slow” in the race eventual𓆏ly won by Francesco Bagnaia.

"Already on the warm-up꧟ lap to the grid I felt that I had no grip at all. Soღmething went wrong with the rear tyre.

“We have to try to understand what happened 𒆙with Michelin and the team.

"Obviously with the pace we showed in the last part of the Sprint I was aimi🅰ng for a completely different race.

"But there was nothing I could do. It was a nightmare all ra♑ce."

He later added: “I'm a little bit angry 🦩because we lost a good opportunity.

"In ღany case, I am still leaving Qatar knowing that I ဣhave a competitive bike and the championship has only just begun."

Aprilia entered the season-opener tipped to be Ducati’s closest challenger but, after a b🗹izarre Sunday, it never came to fruition.

KTM’s Brad Binder was instead the soleཧ non-Ducati 𒅌in the top seven.