He could've finished fourth, but a crash at lap 17 prevented Fermin Aldeguer from completing an otherwise excellent race in Austin. A far cry from the performance of his Gresini Racing teammate and current World Championship leader, Alex Marquez. The Spanish rider has yet to become familiar with the series and the Desmosedici since, after three weekends in action, he collected just 3 points.
"I'm happy with how I performed in the GP, because I proved that I deserve my place in this category. So, I prefer not to think about the fall and just focus on what has emerged that's positive," he told AS.
The wet asphalt at Turn 15 misled him. "I was riding effortlessly. I had just done some good laps and passed Miller. I was even a second and a half faster than Morbidelli. Maybe an excess of eagerness seeing him nearby led me to make that mistake," he admitted.
Not bad for the 19-year-old, who'll already try to make up for it in Qatar. "I learned a lot during the American weekend, since the circuit was complicated to deal with, physically as well as mentally. More generally, the first dates on the calendar helped me understand how to fight in the group. In light of this, I'm convinced that, in Losail, should I go straight through to the Q2, I'll get another chance to battle up front and learn more. With Jack, I fought both in the Sprint and in the GP. Even if I didn't get the better of it, I had fun," he stressed.
Regarding the crucial stages of the bike change and the delayed start, he commented: "I quickly came back to the pit because I had wet tires, and I noticed that the track was drying. I clearly didn't do it first, being inexperienced. When I saw Bagnaia, I did what he did. The bike was far away and, I have to say, my pulse went up more in that moment than in the whole grand prix."
Finally, he spoke about the lesson learned from Marc's fall when he was about to score another victory. "It's proof that you can never be too confident because then you're wrong. He's a prodigy, and he's destroying everyone, but a mistake can happen. He had bad luck, since he had been pushing since Friday. Anyway, I don't think anything will change in the next round," he said, exalting his colleague and fellow countryman.