Fourth went to Mir from Bagnaia
and Marquez, whose race was
almost over before turn one as the
seven-time COTA winner bogged
heavily from ninth off the grid and
dropped to dead last. The Span-
iard was at his ruthless best on the
comeback, ripping past most of the
field but hitting a wall when he got
engaged with Quartararo for sixth,
eventually losing the contact to the
top five.
Quartararo finished seventh.
Martin dropped to eighth after
spending the first half of the race
in second behind Miller. Zarco was
ninth, and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia
Racing) secured his second con-
secutive top 10 in 10th.
Erstwhile championship leader
Aleix Espargaro was 11th from Red
Bull KTM's Brad Binder, Repsol
Honda's Pol Espargaro, Takaaki
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 15 APRIL 12, 2022 P87
ESPARGARO
CONSIDERING RIVAL
OFFERS?
On the one hand, things have never
been better for Aleix Espargaro and
Aprilia." Together they turned the
RS-GP into a race-winning bike and en-
tered round four leading the champion-
ship for the first time in their respective
histories. But it's not all celebrations
and victory champagne. Talks have
already started regarding extending the
Catalan's contract for 2023 and '24.
Yet both parties are far apart in terms
of salary. So much so that Espargaro
is being heavily linked to signing with a
rival manufacturer. "I feel super strong,
super-fast," he said. "I want to stay. I
did not have any offer yet. The first talks
they have with my manager were really
disappointing. I feel very sad because
we are completely super far [apart]. But
there is still time. I hope they value my
work here during these years."
CALLS FOR
QUALIFYING RETHINK
Not for the first time in recent history,
there were calls to revamp MotoGP's
qualifying system after both Saturday's
Q1 and Q2 were marked by riders
touring and waiting for tows. Aleix Es-
pargaro crashed out in frustration after
Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli
attempted to follow him throughout Q1.
Later he lamented, "It was embarrass-
ing." And Suzuki's Alex Rins found his
qualifying efforts frustrated by riders
touring on the edge of track. "It's
unacceptable," said Rins. "We are
the big boys, and we need to give an
example to the others. I don't have
words to describe the feeling. I was
in qualifying one pushing, pushing,
pushing then four or five riders in front
stopped. It makes no sense. It's so
dangerous."
Briefly...
(Above) Raul Fernandez heads the
factory Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli.
