Espargaró back in top ten as Kallio hits more bad luck

Aleix Espargaró was both relieved and happy to have made a return to finishing inside the top ten at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix on Sunday, as he placed ninth. The Pramac Racing rider enjoyed an impressive ride as he climbed his way up the field from 14th on the starting grid.

“I’ve never ridden in such conditions. I’m exhausted after this race but very happy with how it finished,” said Espargaró in reference to the temperature. “I made a good start and didn’t lose any positions, and in the opening laps found my rhythm and tried to overtake some other riders. On lap five I got past Capirossi and Edwards and closed the gap to Mika, but unfortunately I didn’t have the pace that would have allowed me to catch the others.”

“With the heat the track had become very slippery and for the last few laps I just tried to finish my race without taking any unnecessary risks. Now I can’t wait to race at Misano which is one of my favourite tracks,” added the 20 year-old.

On the other side of the Pramac garage team-mate Mika Kallio was left to rue further bad luck as he hit a bump in the track with ten laps to go. The Finn was running in ninth place and had seventh position in his sights when he lost the front of his Desmosedici GP10.

“It’s such bad luck. I had a better start than usual and soon I was up to eighth and was almost four seconds off Simoncelli. Bautista caught me and we started to run together at a fast pace, and within another seven laps we’d closed the gap to Simoncelli,” explained Kallio.

“I was fighting with Simoncelli and Bautista for seventh but then I hit a bump and lost the front straight away, and found myself on the floor. I could have easily fought with the others for seventh, or at least have gained a top-ten position. I’m very disappointed with how things went but as is so often happening this season I am not getting the results I deserve, for one reason or another.”