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KTM home race retirement leaves Espargaro "super-angry"

Pol Espargaro admits he was "super-angry" after he was forced to retire from KTM's home MotoGP race at the Red Bull Ring after one lap.

Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Hector Barbera, Avintia Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Pol Espargaro, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

The Spaniard, who scored KTM's first top 10 result in the previous Brno race, was the highest-placed rider of his team on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix in 16th.

However, his RC16 developed a front-brake issue on his way to the grid and, while that problem was sorted before the formation lap, his rear brake failed during the opening lap.

Espargaro rued a "really unlucky" race for missing out on a potential strong result on home soil, which was a "big opportunity lost".

"Super-angry because we could have done very good here," said Espargaro. "It's a big opportunity lost to show the world what KTM can do.

"It was a really unlucky event, this could happen just one time in a 1000 times and we have it in the race, really unlucky.

"I had an amazing vibration on the front disc and when I stopped on the grid the mechanics worked and changed it really fast.

"I started [the formation lap] again on a new disc, the first corner everyone was quite nervous but we improved this problem, the lap I did to go to the grid, everything was good.

"In the second braking point I tried to brake and one problem in the rear brake appeared. Very unlucky today because this was a home GP, a GP that I think we were close."

"Super-dangerous" start clash with Barbera

Right after the start, Espargaro was hit on the right side by Hector Barbera's Avintia Ducati, which forced the former to back off and consequently lose a few positions.

However, he said the contact did not cause any problems in the bike, but caused "big pain in the fingers".

"I started, [Barbera] made a big hit on my right, I don't know why," he said. "He hit me from the side but this didn't generate much problem, I just lost some positions and had big pain in the fingers, but I could continue.

"We talked about that in the safety commission after Barcelona with [Danilo] Petrucci and [Marc] Marquez, that Petrucci changed the line and turned a little bit.

"When you do that it is super-dangerous because the speed is super-high and the wheelie of all the bikes are on and if you have an impact from the side you can crash really easy."

Additional reporting by Toni Boerner

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