Although unable to match team-ma✱te Maverick Vinales’ Sprint victory heroics, Aleix Espargaro hailed his fifth place as a great personal performance at one of his worst tracks.

Start🐻ing on pole, Vinales led the Sprint from start to finish for his second Saturday victory in a row.

Mea🦂nwhile Espargaro, the only rider to win official (Sunday) MotoGP races so far for Aprilia, rode from seventh to fifth place, 6.7s behind Vinal💙es.

“I am extremely hap♚py for Aprilia and for Maverick. This win demonstrates that the bike is improving greatly,” Espargaro said.

"ꦆFor me, this is one of my worst tracks on the calendar, along with Austria. I [struggle] in stop-and-go corners. So I have to improve.

“But I'm very happy with my performance, sincerely. If at my worst circuits, on my worst days, I can finish fifth in ওMotoGP, that’s great.

“I think the [Sunday] race will be better for us because our tyre consumption looks slightly better than KTM and Ducati. So hopeful🍎ly we can be even closer to the podium.”