Espargaro banking on braking

Four races into the 2019 MotoGP season and, despite a fall in Texas, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro has scored triple the points of this time last year.

His top-ten target has been achieved on two occasions and Espargaro is currently challenging the best KTM of younger brother Pol for eleventh in the riders' standings, while Aprilia now has the edge on the Austrian brand in the constructors' championship.

While consistency has been achieved, might Espargaro be able to deliver the first stand-out result for the 2019 RS-GP this weekend? The stop-go nature of the track should certainly play into their hands...

"Le Mans is a track that I like and on which I think the Aprilia RS-GP can do well. Braking is one of our strong points. The bike stays stable in hard braking and that could help us," Espargaro said.

"I am also hoping for a dry weekend. It rains almost every year in France and that makes everything more difficult.

"As always, our goal remains the top ten."

Team-mate Andrea Iannone will be back alongside Espargaro after missing the remainder of the Spanish weekend, plus post-race test, due to a foot injury in free practice.

The Italian had been trying a promising set-up change when he fell and will retry the configuration on Friday at Le Mans.

"I have positive feelings as I head to Le Mans. In Jerez, we were able to figure out a few important things. It is a small step forward that will also help us in France," he said.

"We still need to see how much my foot will bother me. In any case, I have been working hard to be as fit as I possibly can."

Iannone - arriving at the team from Suzuki - has a best RS-GP finish of twelfth so far, in Austin.