It was “more difficult than it looked” but 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Aleix Espargaro remains confident of fighting for victor🍸y in Saturday’s Barcelona Sprint race after thir🅘d place in Friday practice.

But a question mark hangs over Sunday, Espargaro’s final MotoGP as a full-time rider, when he fears the Du𒁏catis might again pull 𝓀clear of the field.

Espargaro benefitted from a fresh Aprilia engine for the final round and praised Michelin’s efforts♌ in supplying seven different tyre options for the re-arranged seasไon finale.

But the coo♋l 17-degree 𝄹afternoon air temperature made the notoriously slippery circuit even more challenging.

“A more difficult day than it looks because the conditions were very, very difficult. 17 degrees for a time attack with these MotoGPs is not easy!” said Espargaro, who was♐ classified behind only Francesco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi.

“I struggled a little bit with the overall grip, the same problem we had from mid-season. But overall I'm happy, I improved quite a lot. I didn't want to crash as I did at the last four GPs on a 🍃Friday, so I took a bit of care at the beginning.”

The Spaniard added: “It's unbelievable what Michelin did. We have many options. They ‘protect’ a lot the left side of the tyre. For m💃e a little bit too much. But I will not blame them. 🉐It's better this than crashing. I think they did a really, really good job.

“You need to try the tyre but it's not that easy because I really love this circuit, but it's quiꦅte slippery and it's very cold.

“It's diffi𓃲cult to understand the limit because you feel that the bike is not really pushing the ground. 17° with these MotoGPs is very, very difficult to understand. It's very easy to crash.”

On the plus side,𒊎 Espargaro was boosted by ‘the fastest engine I ever had’.

“Aprilia is working hard, they brought me a new engine, it’s the fܫastest engine I ever had. Even a little bit more RPMs for a Friday and I'm flying in the straight so I'm happy, we're trying everything.”

Es𝔍pargaro and Aprilia have won th🍃ree of the last four races at his local track, including the Sprint from pole position in May.

The #41 remai𒁃ns confident of having ‘some fun’ o꧂n soft rubber in tomorrow’s Sprint.

“Let's forget Sunday, if we talk about Saturday with soft tyres, yes I think ꦏI can!” he said of his farewell victory chances.

“I enjoyed today. I tried the different fronts, the rears and I felt more or less OK. I don't see anybody supe𓄧r fast, super strong💝. So I think we have our opportunity.

🍌“For Sunday I don't understand yet how fast we can go over🌳 a long distance, but for tomorrow I think I can have some fun.”

Espargaro’s Sunday ca🍰ution is well founded, with Ducati unbeaten in a full-length race since team-mate Maverick Vinales won at round three in COTA.

That includes May’s Cataluny🅰a grand prix when Espargaro finished as the top non-Ducati in fourth place but over ten seconds from victory.

The Spaniard, who will switcꦏh to Honda test and wild-card duties after this weekend, confirm💃ed the other manufacturers are still trailing Ducati in understanding the 2024-spec rear tyre construction.

“We analysꦦe many, many, many parameters. We work so hard trying to understand many things… There is somethiꦿng that we cannot put together,” he said.

“We don't have traction, we don't have grip, just Ducati is enjoying 🍌it [the rear tyre] and we are struggling a lot🍒.”

As well as his own performance this weekend, Espargaro is keeping an eye on good friend and future Aprilia rider Jorge Martin’s title showdown wit🐼h Francesco Bagnaia.

Bagnaia suffered an unusual ౠaccident this morning when he lost the front and fell, after the chꦿequered flag, as Vinales passed him into Turn 1 following a practice start.

That followed an earlier bizarre clash between Tech3 ride🍨rs Pedro Acosta and Augusto Fernandez, which brought out red flags.

“I don't want to go into a single incident but remember one🅰 thing, everybody is excited because it's the last race. Everybody is tired. Everybody is thinking a little bit on Tuesday, new bikes,”ꦜ Espargaro said.

“Pecco is for sure super nervous, thinking about his championship. So difficult to manage. The best thing is not to ⛦blame anybody and try to finish and to have fun as much as possible.”

Vinales🙈 ✅was sixth quickest in Friday meaning he is also safety through to Qualifying 2.