Espargaro: My wheels started to slide, float

Aleix Espargaro was one of the first victims of a treacherous wet track that caught out half-a-dozen riders - and left Tito Rabat with multiple leg fractures - during final MotoGP practice at Silverstone.

A brief but heavy shower at the far end of the track caused major aquaplaning issues on the new track surface as riders approached Stowe Corner at the end of the Hangar Straight.

Espargaro: My wheels started to slide, float

Aleix Espargaro was one of the first victims of a treacherous wet track that caught out half-a-dozen riders - and left Tito Rabat with multiple leg fractures - during final MotoGP practice at Silverstone.

A brief but heavy shower at the far end of the track caused major aquaplaning issues on the new track surface as riders approached Stowe Corner at the end of the Hangar Straight.

"It's not because we like to talk bad about anything, we will race whenever they want. If they want, we will do motocross. It's not a problem. This is our job. But the reality is that the track is super bad," Espargaro said. "It's not just the bumps it's also the undulations and a lot of water is standing in the middle of the straight."

Turning to the FP4 incident, the Aprilia rider added:

"I was not superfast because I was just out of the pits and both my wheels just started to slide, like floating and I couldn't stop the bike. I thought I'd hit the airfence and actually I did but very slow. But then many riders just lost the front. Many crashes.

"And this is for me dangerous because I think that the rain wasn't that heavy, so if tomorrow it rains a little bit more in the middle of the race, maybe there is no time to put a red flag. And if you put a red flag after the crash; look how Tito is.

"If it rains a lot I'm sure they will try to be super focused and put immediately the red flag. But if you arrive in that place in a group of five bikes and there is not a red flag already, all five can crash together. So I hope and pray it won't rain a lot."

The MotoGP race start time has been moved forward from 1pm to 11:30am to try and avoid the worst of the rain. Espargaro emphasised that the biggest issue will be stopping the race before any accidents if the conditions worsen.

"We have to race. I want to think that everybody is clever enough to decide if we can. But we cannot decide after a crash. We have to prevent this," he said. "This is very important. It's easy to put a red flag after a crash. My wife could decide that. I trust in them and hope they will take the best decision.

"It's difficult. They cannot predict what will happen tomorrow with the rain, but the track we cannot change. So if it rains a lot, it's impossible. Doesn't matter if we do a Safety Commission meeting or not. We can't race. So we have to wait for tomorrow and see how is the rain."

Which areas were the worst for the standing water today?

"The back [Hangar] straight, but not just that. The downhill after corner seven, the brake point of the chicane [Turn 8] is also super bad. I would say even worse than the straight, but the difference is that in the straight you arrive 300km/h and the chicane 150. But both places are very tricky."

Espargaro went on to qualify in 17th place on the drying track in Qualifying 1.

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