Espargaro “angry with other riders” - “you can’t blame everybody”

Aleix Espargaro revealed an on-track chat with Fabio Quartararo about track conditions at the Thailand MotoGP and urged his rival to “go and tell them” his thoughts.
Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Thailand MotoGP 30 September
Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Thailand MotoGP 30 September

Espargaro was animated in conversation with Dorna representatives during the delayed start to the race, caused by rain and standing water.

He insists that he was not advocating the race was cancelled, but was instead frustrated that other riders were not sharing their thoughts about the dangerous conditions.

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“I was angry with the other riders,” he said.

“I said: ‘The track is perfect, we can race, but please clean [Turn 3 and 4] because there is no visibility! A lot of rivers crossing the track. You have to improve that part, please!’

“It’s not that I didn’t want to race.

“Fabio said to me: ‘There is no visibility!’ I said to him: ‘Go and tell them!’

“You cannot stay sitting on the bike then, if there is a crash, blame everybody.

“There is a Safety Commission. I raised it on the grid. It’s good that we can give information to them and they can improve the track. They tried their best.”

Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Thailand MotoGP, 1 October
Aleix Espargaro, MotoGP, Thailand MotoGP, 1 October

Espargaro: "Fabio still the man to beat"

Espargaro finished 11th but has closed the gap in the MotoGP 2022 standings to 20 points behind leader Quartararo, who scored no points in Buriram.

“This is the second-best thing of today,” Espargaro said. “The first is that I will go home to my family.

“Next is Australia and Malaysia which is good for us.

“Fabio is still the man to beat.”

He said about receiving a long lap penalty after colliding with Brad Binder: “On the straight I was parallel to him. We braked together and he released the rbake from outside. I couldn’t avoid it. We touched each other.

“But with the visibility and the wet? With how difficult it is to overtake?

“Franco Morbidelli hit me twice on the last laps. He was looking for a contract for next year!

“It was incredible. I didn’t understand. He got no long lap penalty. This is okay, it’s racing.

“I saw other overtaking on the limit. It’s difficult.

“I do not understand [my long lap penalty].”

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