Espargaro fears 2023 will be ‘the same as 2022 - Ducati is still the best’

After a brief spell at the top for Espargaro’s teammate Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini and MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia jumped back ahead of the Aprilia rider.

Espargaro is yet to join Vinales and the majority of the Ducati riders in setting a time attack during the final two hours of day three, however, the Spaniard remains inside the top six thanks to his earlier effort.

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If Ducati finish quickest then they will have done so on all three days after Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin topped day one and two.

Fearing the pace of the Ducati, Espargaro believes 2023 could shape up to be similar to last season.

Espargaro said: "The feeling that I have is that the train of 2022 is the same as 2023. The Ducati is still the best bike with really good riders who all looked fast at some moments of the three days. 

"I struggled a little bit with the conditions of day two, not many laps after this afternoon and during three days. 

"It was not easy for me to get back and be fast, but lap-by-lap I felt better. The 2023 bike is better than the 2022. But we still have to be patient and see if it’s enough."

Although the Aprilia appears to be stronger than last season, which is an impressive achievement given the pace they showed throughout 2022, Espargaro is keen to test the bike’s potential at another circuit. 

"We improved a little bit but we have to try in another circuit," Espargaro added. "This circuit, you almost don’t have any low acceleration as it’s super fast, super wide and you can let the bike be fast in the apex which the Aprilia is super, super strong at. 

"But on the tight corners I have the feeling we will suffer more. In mid-range I have the feeling that we need a little bit more talk but we improved a little bit. 

"The racing engines that are already on the dyno are a little bit better than this one, so step-by-step with the Potimao test, the engineers have one month and everything can improve."

When detailing what areas the RS-GP23 has improved on in particular, cooling, which affected the Spaniard during most of the overseas races towards the end of last season, has been a step forward thus far. 

Espargaro said: "With the new bike one thing is that the cooling is much better. It was a nightmare last year. Indonesia, Thailand, here - it was really difficult to ride the bike but now they did a really good job on this. 

"The bike is a little bit faster on the straight and the bike is more narrow which allows it to be more aggressive on the change of directions. 

"The new aero is a little bit better for the top speed but at the same time, with the cornering the bike turns the same or a little bit better. 

"Overall we made one step forward in all areas. It’s a very small step but when you do small steps everywhere without destroying anything it’s very positive. Hopefully we can do one more in Portimao."