The mental burden of being a title challenger caused Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia to confess that he was “extremely fatigued” after the first part of the 2022 MotoGP season.
After winning his first MotoGP race in April in Argentina, Espargaro’s 2022 season has been the best of his world championship driving career.
Since then, he has won four more podiums, and in the first 11 races, he has just twice placed outside of the top five.
In Barcelona, he miscalculated the number of laps remained and celebrated too soon, derailing his chances of winning the championship. But after an accident with Fabio Quartararo forced him off the track at Assen just before the summer vacation, Espargaro somehow recovered to finish fourth, closing the gap on the Yamaha racer in second place to only 21 points.
Last month, Espargaro said preserving the title leader’s lead within a race win margin of 25 points was his target. However, he also acknowledged that he had needed the five-week vacation to relax.
“Sincerely, I’m very tired. I’m super, super exhausted,” Espargaro said when asked if he would have liked the season to have continued straight away after Assen to build on his momentum in the championship race.
“I need rest. Not five weeks, but especially mentally this year for me it’s completely different to other years, which I suppose is normal, I’m fighting for the title. But I was in the motorhome watching a film with my son and I was very tired.
“I went to sleep at 9pm, so I really need rest for my mind, to disconnect. Now I’m happy because I said I wanted to go on holiday with less than one race [gap in points to the leader] and I have 21 points. So, I will keep pushing Fabio.”
Espargaro recently signed two-year contract with Aprilia back in May, securing his position with the team for the remainder of the season.
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Espargaro finished third last year to earn his maiden podium finish for Aprilia, will start the 2022 MotoGP season on August 7.
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