Aleix Espargaro looked to be on for his second Aprilia podium at MotorLand on Sunday before the local rider settled for fourth in the AragónGP.

High temperatures and rapid pace provided an intense race, but one the Catalan could be pleased with, despite missing out on the champagne.

“The race has been very, very good. I'm more satisfied maybe than the race I did in Silverstone, in terms of performance,” Espargaro explained. “Has been a very, very fast race. The track temperature was close to 50 degrees, and we were, every single lap in 48-half. Last year Morbidelli victory was 49 highs, the last part of the race.

“At the beginning my Michelin guy told me 'try to be gentle at the beginning, don't try to push so much', so I did again a good start and when I saw that Marc and Pecco were pushing, pushing, I said, 'I have to go' so I changed the map, I push, I go and every lap I saw the lap time I say 'the tyre will explode, you will not last, the tyre will explode', but I tried to treat the tyre good. At the end I couldn't follow Joan [Mir] because he had better traction than me, but I was a lot faster on the brakes, a lot better than him on brakes. I really collapsed the front tyre, on the last five laps so I couldn't stay with him. I checked the pitboard and I saw that I had four-seconds with Miller, so I decide to take the points. We are very close to sixth place in the championship.

“I said at the beginning of the season that my biggest goal, my biggest dream for this season, obviously was the podium but more important was to finish in top six of the championship. So we are close to my goal.

“It's very important to arrive at the end of the race with some rubber but you have to be competitive as well. So today was no option. You had to race with soft with this track temperature. I expect a lot slower race sincerely. When I saw the pace, I was a bit scared in the beginning but I said to my guys, I was not very worried about the speed, I had the speed today to be with the best. Maybe, I expect a little bit more close than Pecco and Marc. But the problem was not just the speed, was also the rear tyre and in the first part of the race I was a little bit worried, but I said, 'If I don't arrive, they will not arrive as well' so everybody will stop the pace.

“The track was a bit more slippery, so this is why I'm very proud, I'm happy with the performance we did,” he continued. “I think that, especially the top four, we rode super fast, super, super fast. I did like the level of the qualifying, I was super focussed riding today, was a very, very demanding race sincerely. One of the most demanding races I've ever did.

“This is the level. We have to continue staying and fighting for the podium every race. When you fight for the podium like today, you can finish also fifth, sixth, and if we have a very bad day, you can finish seventh one day. Today we saw also with the guy leading the championship or Pecco last week, but is important to be in the mix, in the top every weekend. So this weekend, apart from the fourth place of the race, I was always on the top, in the sessions, the practices. So this is the important thing. We still have room to improve.

“We had some problems in the morning so there is always room to improve and the most important thing is not just the speed, is the stability during the season. To have no problems, for me to win and to finish in the podium is very important but the most important thing is the stability over one year, because what I want is to finish one day with Aprilia in the top three of the World Championship.”