Pol Espargaro took KTM into Q2 once again at the Malaysian GP, and it made for a good omen on Sunday despite the weather changing for the race.

Moving up from P12 on the grid to complete the top ten, the rain-soaked marathon certainly felt like just that to the rider from Granollers, but Espargaro says he felt good in the race – and battled Valentino Rossi early on.

“It wasn’t easy,” explains the former Moto2 World Champion. “These wet races here are quite long, at times feeling like they’re never going to finish, but I felt good at the start battling with Rossi early on even if I maybe lost a bit of time fighting with him. Then I got my rhythm and got into the top ten.”

“I was thinking I could win,” said the Frenchman of those early laps. “On Friday in the wet I wasn’t fast and they were so fast, so that’s why I chose the soft rear tyre."

"But leading the race, even not doing the laptimes from Friday it was enough and I could keep a small gap. I was focused, then when they caught me I expected to be able to fight with them.”

‘They’ were Lorenzo and his teammate Andrea Dovizioso – which caused a rethink on strategy for Zarco: “I expected to be able to fight with them but I was losing a lot in acceleration. We were at the limit with the rear grip."

"The soft tyre was a good choice to stay in front and lead at the beginning when the conditions were worst…but when I lost the rear twice trying to follow them, I thought to myself to not do anything stupid, maybe they will start to come back…but they were so fast."

Viñales had a similar struggle in the rain, and crossed the line in ninth after dropping out of the points at one point. The Spaniard believed his wet weather woes to have been solved in Warm Up at Phillip Island and backed that up with good pace in FP2 at Sepang but come race day, it was a different story.

“I was thinking in the wet we made a big step in Phillip Island, and here in FP2 we were third. Every lap was good,” shrugged the rider from Roses. “But in the race it as a totally different feeling, losing the rear at every corner and it was hard to get a rhythm or confidence.”

The pace on race day for many was different to that of FP2, and Viñales says he’ll focus more on the result in Warm Up in Australia and his feeling on Friday afternoon.

Then, it’s on to Valencia: “I have to keep FP2 in mind and not think to much about the race. We know it was a problem but we know we were fast in practice, and in Valencia we have a good opportunity. It’s a track I like and somewhere I’ve always been fast.”

That fires up mid-November as Viñales returns to the venue at which he first rode the M1, with one more chance at a win.