The disappointment of the Qatar MotoGP for Aprilia and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Aleix Espargaro has been likened to “a blunt knife”.

Espargaro, at one of his favourite tracks, enjoyed a roaring conclusion 💮to the Saturday s🃏print race, earning a podium finish, and was the favourite to win Sunday’s grand prix with many inside the paddock, as a result.

But a disa🍸ppointing outing resulted in a P8 finish, blamed on poor rea൩r grip.

“Weird,” was how TNT Sports’ M📖ichael Laverty summed up Espargaro’s𝓀 race.

“Something strange happened,” he added.

“He never had any fight from the off. He🔴 was getting beaten up, overtaken, on the first two or three laps.

“Then we expect♒ed, when he was only 3.84s off the lead, that it’s goi🌳ng to kick into gear for him. The grip will come to Aleix.

“But it never ha⭕ppened and he dropped ꦕfurther behind.

“It may have been the cooler track temperature or everyone else 💜just figuring things o🤪ut overnight.

“But it did seem like Aprilia were a blunt knife.

“They should🐼 have been the package which fought the Ducatis, but they j♚ust didn’t have it.”

Esparga𝕴ro, the oldest rider on the 2024 MotoGP grid at 34, admitted that he woke up on Sunday morning expecting he could win in Qatar.

But he admitted to♚ the quick realisation that he was “extremely slow” in the race eventually won by Francesco Bagnaia.

"Alr💙eady on the warm-up lap to the grid I felt that I had no grip at all. Something went wrong ൩with the rear tyre.

“We have to try to unders𒁃tand what happꦏened with Michelin and the team.

"Obviously 🧸with the pace we showed in the last part of the Sprint I was aiming for a completely different race.

"But t𝓰here was nothing I could do. It was a nightmare all race🐭."

He later added: “I'm a 🏅little bit angry because we lost a good opportunity.

"In any case, I am still leaving Qatar knowing that I have a competitive b𒆙ike and the ch𝓰ampionship has only just begun."

Aprilia entered the season-opener tipped to be Ducati’s closest challenger but, after a bizarre Sunday, it never came ✃to fruition.

KTM’s Brad Binder was𓆉♏ instead the sole non-Ducati in the top seven.