Aleix Espargaró finished no higher than tenth in the MotoGP Indonesian GP, unlike his Aprilia teammate, who secured second place. The choice of the soft rear tire significantly hampered his chances.
The Spaniard said the tyre started to lose performance earlier than he expected: ‘Actually it was earlier than I expected. I expected to at least do the first 18, 20 laps in decent pace, but on the lap ten I started to feel a drop. It’s a shame, really, really a shame, because I had a really good speed during the weekend’.
After making the same mistake for the second time in 2023, Espargaró believes that with a different tyre choice, he could have at least competed for a spot on the podium: ‘Now it’s stupid to say I could win. I felt that I was very, very fast and strong all the weekend. And with the medium tyre maybe I wouldn’t win, but I would fight for the podium. And it was my mistake; it’s the second time this season – I did it in Germany and I did it here. I’m very sorry’.