With Dani Pedrosa or even Bradley Smith, Aleix Espargaró is one of those who have not been impressed by the new pneumatic situation. Lacking sensations and confidence, he found himself at the bottom of the hierarchy, a situation made all the more complicated by the fact that, at the same time, Maverick Viñales, the teammate, was coming to light.
An imbalance that quickly makes your career go from life to death in MotoGP. It was therefore necessary to react and Aleix Espargaró managed to climb back up the slope on the Austin route. Thanks to a daring choice of soft tires front and rear, he forgot his doubts and charged straight ahead. With the result of standing up to his young and talented teammate to gain fourth place. Pol's brother is therefore still moving and has put himself back on the board by participating in what is to date Suzuki's best overall performance in a Grand Prix.
« This race was ultimately positive and a good thing after the bad sensations in Qatar and Argentina. The last few weeks I could barely sleep. These were the most difficult weeks of my career. I was experiencing a disaster, I didn't know what was happening with the bike. In Austin, we took the 2015 chassis and rebuilt everything. By Saturday, I felt better ».
Furthermore, Aleix had received valuable moral reinforcement: “ Kenny Roberts helped us a lot, we talked a lot. Before the race, I decided to be aggressive from the start, which my choice of tires allowed me to do. It worked then the tires logically deteriorated. During my fight with Maverick, I made a small mistake and he passed. For me, it was important to finish in front of him ».
This is what we call healthy emulation. But here is a confession which promises for the future: “ we have taken a step forward. We can still improve. With my chief mechanic, we already have some ideas for finding traction, which is what we lack the most. The chassis is good, the engine much better than last year. Michelin has made progress, but it doesn't work overnight. Finding the right compromise with the front tire is difficult ».
With all this, we see thatAleix Espargaró is far from being dropped from the championship by the one who has the favors of Red to join him at Yamaha. Casa Particular in Viñales is eighth overall and is only two points ahead of his teammate in provisional tenth. The Suzuki factory, finally, remained in Austin after the Grand Prix to do tests. No, Casa Particular in Viñales did not finish off his five-year-old senior in the box.
2016 World Championship Ranking
| Pos | Pile | Motorcycle | Country | Points |
| 1 | Marc Márquez | Honda | SPA | 66 |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | SPA | 45 |
| 3 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 33 |
| 4 | Pol Espargaró | Yamaha | SPA | 28 |
| 5 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 27 |
| 6 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 25 |
| 7 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | ITA | 23 |
| 8 | Maverick VIÑALES | Suzuki | SPA | 23 |
| 9 | Eugene LAVERTY | Ducati | IRL | 21 |
| 10 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | SPA | 21 |
| 11 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | ITA | 16 |
| 12 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | GBR | 16 |
| 13 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 16 |
| 14 | Stefan BRADL | Aprilia | GER | 15 |
| 15 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia | SPA | 14 |
| 16 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 12 |
| 17 | Tito RABAT | Honda | SPA | 11 |
| 18 | Jack Miller | Honda | AUS | 2 |
| 19 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | COL | 2 |
| 20 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | FRA | 1 |
| 21 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | GBR | 0 |
