Aleix Espargaro says he ‘can’t wait’ for Saturday’s sessions after surprising himself by setting his top ten-achieving best Friday time in FP2 at🐷 Misano on a rear tyre that had♉ already completed 16 laps.

The Spaniard has tipped Aprilia to enjoy its strongest weekend of the season around a home circuit that better suits the characteristics of the RS-GP and duly demonstrated as much w🌳ဣith the third best time in FP1 and tenth quickest - the second best non-Yamaha/KTM rider - in FP2.

Moreover, his fastest time of the day was set on an ageing rear tyre, giving him immense confidence headin🍒g into Saturday when he pushes on🎃 the soft rear.

“It has been the best Friday of the season so far,” he mused. “I put my best lap time in lap 16 of th🐎e rear tyre. I didn’t really expect because the plan was to put laps on the rear soft. I put in the last part of FP2 the tyre of the morning. Lap by lap I started to be more fast more fast.&nཧbsp;

“In the end I did a 32.9s - a  top ten time with 15 or 16 laps on the rear tyre, it was impressive. I feel strong, it’s not my favourite track but it’s important t⛦o shine here in Italy. I’m very focused. I feel like I’m strong. 

“I can’t wait for tomorrow morniܫng to start the fight with new tyres and see if we can go under 32s and top ten. I think we can do a good race here, I feel really good.”

Revealing team-mate Bradley Smith - who was fifth fastest in FP1🔜 - has a different machine to him in order to test new parts, Espargaro says he feels the RS-GP is quicker than its disappointing results so far (a best of tenth from the opening five rounds) and is determined to rectify this at M🌜isano.

“I think Bradley has a different bike than mine, he’s trying new things on the bike. Sincerely I didn’t have time to ask how he felt but obviously by the lap time and pace he was strong in the mornin🌳g. It looks positive. 

“I need stability, I need ca🌌lm. I felt strong. I like this RS-GP 20 but we had some bad luck in the other races. It’s not a good track for us, but we have to be calm [and] use the maximum potential of the RS-GP 20. 

“We are in GP6 and I think we didn’t use the maximum of the bike in very single race. This is what we ha𒀰ve to do before we ask for new stuff.”