“My guys said, ‘Fabio is [just] in front of you’. But I don't care. This is a very special GP. I want to finish on the podium because it’s the ho♍me race of Aprilia,” Espargaro said.

With memories of the huge Silverston﷽e highside still fresh in his mind, Espargaro felt he had played it a little too safe in Saturday’s tricky damp qualifying.

“When I left pitlane I f🔴elt a mix of angry and disappointed. Because to ride in these conditions is very tricky, very dangerous,” Espargaro said.

“I touched a white line in the first lap and almost flew [off]. So I tried to focus and make no mistakes, go as fast as possibl🗹e but without risk. And maybe I had to risk a little bit more because ninth place is not good.

“I didn't want to make a stupid mistake like I did in Silverstone, because there are still a lot of points, a lot of races, a lot of days in front of us. I🃏t's just qualifying.

“But obviously if it rains tomorrow, I will have t💃o risk a bit more because you get the points, not today.”

Off the rostrum for the past five rounds and having slipped 32 points behind Quartararo, Espargaro now views a Misano podium as cruciaꦏl to his title hopes.

“I know that if I want🀅 to fight for the championship, I need to finish on the podium. So this is what I’m ai🌳ming for,” he said.

Fortunately for Espargaro, the RS-GP “improved quite a lot” on Saturday, with the Spaniard and team-mate Maverick Vinales finishing behind only Eneaꦅ Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) in final practice.

“I changed quite a lot the bike from yesterday. I made it a little bit ♛longer like Maverick to gain some stability on the brakes. To avoid the ဣsliding," Espargaro said.

"And I gained a lot of stability. I was able to 🐼brake later and I was surprised for my pace. I was not really pushing like hell and I was all the time in 32.4 which is very fast.

"So it's a shame, the qualifying൲, be🎃cause I think that the race pace is very strong from both Aprilias."

Meanwhile, if the rain stays away, Espargaro predicts a flat-oꦉut race.

“I don't think that it will be a strategic race. You can go full gas from lap 1 to the end and thi🍒s is something that didn't happen in a long time,” he explain𒐪ed.

“I don't know if the Ducatis will choose the soft rear tyre, but with the medium, I started this morning with 19 laps and on lap♋ 27 I did 32.5. The degradation is very low. No drop of the tyre. So I'm very happy about this.”

Vinales has qualified as the top non-Ducati in fifth place, whic♌h will become fourth on the grid due to the penalty for Francesco Bagnaia.

Bagnaia,🦹 winner of the last three races, is now within 12 points of Espargaro.