Aleix Espargaro: 'Sorry to Morbidelli, sorry to team'

Aleix Espargaro left Italy with just three points to show for Aprilia's pair of home races, a 13th in the first GP being followed by an opening lap accident in race two.

Pushing to gain early ground from 16th on the grid, Espargaro lost the front of his RS-GP at Turn 8, his sliding bike then striking the side of Franco Morbidelli, sending the opening race winner to the back of the field.

"First of all, I feel very sorry for Morbidelli," Espargaro said. "When I touched the throttle I lost the weight on the front and I crashed. Then my bike hit him and I ruined his race.

"Second I’m very sorry for my team. It’s a very important race for them here in Italy and obviously it’s not good to crash. But again, starting in P16 I knew the first part of the race was very important.

"I felt very strong in warm-up with the used tyre. I made a very good start. I was already in the top 10 in the 2nd split. If you analyse the pace of the podium guys and the pace of the guys finishing behind it wasn’t very different.

"The only fast guy in the second half of the race was Mir. The quality is very, very high. If you want to have a good race you have to be there at the beginning. I risked maybe too much."

After Aprilia's home round, Espargaro now heads straight to his own local round in Barcelona this weekend.

Having explained that a lack of acceleration was holding the RS-GP back earlier in the Misano weekend, Espargaro now hopes that the more flowing Circuit de Catalunya will be less problematic.

"It’s a special GP for me. I will give my best. I feel the results are shit but we are closer than ever. I’m very fast, more than ever. But you have to overtake to prove that and finish the race in a good way," he said.

"Last weekend we were in a group with Oliveira, Lecuona and Pol and today in the race Pol finished on the podium and Oliveira did exactly the same pace as him. I feel we are not far. The speed we have, I feel. But we cannot overtake and I have to overcompensate for the lack of acceleration.

"BCN not a track where you need super high acceleration. Hopefully I will be able to be faster."