KTM has revealed that a clutch problem initiated Pol Espargaro's smoky exit frꦺom Sunday's Austin MotoGP.

The Spaniard, who claimed the new🍬 team's best yet finish with 14th in Argentina, was running in 18th place - ahead of team-mate Bradley Smith and Aprilia's Sam Lowes - when he was forced to retire.

Team 🐻Manager Mike Leitner said: "Pol had an issue with the clutch, which caused an oil leak and this is why the engine was smoking."

"We started to🥀 feel this problem with the clutch in the second lap," Espargaro revealed. "I was not fast enough in the straights and in some corners the front was shaking quite a lot.

"Honestly the guys put in a big eff🃏ort this weekend with the new fairing, and they didn't get much sleep. We were really unlucky today. I don't know what we could have done, but maybe it would have bee🐭n possible to take a point.

"We will have some new parts to test in Le Mans and after that we race in Jerez, w🌜here we have already been with the KTM. I feel something good is coming but we need to be patient."

Smi𒆙th, who also scored 🐻a point in Argentina, went on to finish in 16th place.

"I was a bit nervous when I saw Pol's bike smoking and after that, I just tried to look after the bike and the tyres to get s🦄ome important information for the team," Smith said.