Pol Espargaro has sustained a fractured radius in his left wrist in a crash during practice at the Aragon MotoGP and will miss the rest of the weekend for Red Bull KTM.
Andrea Dovizioso felt the fight for fourth place at the San Marino MotoGP could have been possible had he not got stuck behind Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro but concedes he continued to suffer in the low grip conditions for Ducati.
MotoGP riders have been split over the plans to potentially expand the race calendar to 22 races from 2022, with a compromise of fewer tests across a season.
Pol Espargaro admits he didn’t feel his qualifying lap to take second place for the San Marino MotoGP had been possible but poured credit on both his Red Bull KTM crew and his rival front-row starters.
Aleix Espargaro struggled to put on a brave face ahead of Aprilia's home MotoGP event at Misano, revealing he had no new parts to try at the recent test and admitting the lack of progress is taking its toll on his 'energy'.
It’s the return of the MotoGP gossip with the latest round-up following the two-day Misano test, plus reaction from the British MotoGP and the first test at the KymiRing.
Marc Marquez holds a 58-point lead in the MotoGP riders’ standings following his dominant victory at Sachsenring heading into the summer break and also tops the Rider Ratings averages with an impressive score of 8.77.
Aleix Espargaro may have crashed out of the German MotoGP, but the Aprilia rider was at least happy to go down fighting after a return to competitive form at the Sachsenring. Starting 15th, the Spaniard soon latched on to a big group of riders disputing what would become fourth place.
MotoGP riders have been reminded to be aware of not blocking other riders at Sachsenring after an incident at the end of FP2, with stronger penalties due to be introduced for the closing stages of Saturday's FP3.
Andrea Iannone says sticking to his working process with Aprilia is beginning to pay off as the Italian rider climbed up the order into the top six on Friday practice at Assen.
Early race contact with Johann Zarco dropped Aleix Espargaro to a low of 18th place during Sunday's Italian MotoGP. The Aprilia rider then remained behind the KTM for the next ten laps, by which time they had moved into the point-scoring places.
Maverick Vinales says he was powerless in trying to stay on his Monster Yamaha after being hit by Francesco Bagnaia but feels his lowly qualifying result triggered events leading to his French MotoGP DNF.
Pol Espargaro gave KTM's new carbon-fibre swingarm a promising grand prix debut by featuring near the front on his way to the seventh fastest lap time (+0.495s) during Friday practice at the French MotoGP.
Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro continue to hold opposing views over their late-race clash at Jerez. At Le Mans on Thursday, Miller said that the Aprilia rider had been 'extremely rude' on the flight home from the Jerez test:
Having missed the remainder of the Spanish MotoGP due to a foot injury in Saturday's final practice session, Andrea Iannone was also forced to abandon a planned return at Monday's post-race test.
Pol Espargaro has been given a timely boost testing out new engine configurations for KTM but accepts the introduction of the specification will be delayed until the Austrian brand can ensure the prototypes can be made reliable.
The Red Bull KTM squad has resumed in-season testing with a two-day programme at Le Mans with both Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco in action alongside test rider Mika Kallio, while Dani Pedrosa remains out of action due to his surgery over the winter.
Pol Espargaro and KTM will start the European leg of the MotoGP season having more than doubled their previous best points haul from the opening three rounds.