Aleix Espargaro declared himself “very pleased” with his day of work on Friday at Motegi, where he posted the tenth fastest time in FꦉP2, guaranteeing a place in Saturday’s Q2, if the day’s rain arrives as expected.

The Catalan put his strong Friday performance down to a strong base setting that he and crew chief Antonio Jimenez have established over the previous race weekends, meaning less set-up ch💜anges are required mid-session.

“The strategy seems to be working,” said an upbeat Esparꦰgaro, whose fastest lap of 1m 45.721s was 0.9s off Fabio Quartararo’s benchmark time from FP2🦩.

“I am very pleased with this first day, both for the top ten position and for the final time tꦜhat was very fast,” Espargaro said. “In the last few races we found a good base setting and alon♋g with my crew chief, Antonio.

“We decided not to ma𓃲ke too many drastic changes to the bike. The strategy seems to be working. I am able to get the mo꧟st out of the technical package and that remains my goal in this season finale.”

With heavy rain forecast throughout Saturday, securing a top ten slot at the close of FP2 took on added importance. Espargaro likened it to “a qualifying” session,🦋 and said his recent performances aboard the RS-GP have been more than satisfactory.

“🅷It’s always important [to be inside the top ten],” he said. “But even more this weekend becꦦause we know tomorrow it could rain. You could feel during the session it was like a qualifying.

“Everyone was throwing tyres and everybody was pushing like hell. Many riders were waiting on the track so I knew that everybody today was giving the 100 per𝓀cent to be in the top ten so I’m satisfied with the lap time we did and I think the level I’m putting on the Aprilia is good.”