Pol Espargaro has said that he and his Red Bull Factory KTM team are to blame for his none finish in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix after running out of Medium rear tyres.

The Spanish rider, who was looking to bounce back from his crash in Brno, was running in the front group before the red flag. However, in the shortened 20-lap race, Espargaro found that he had run out of medium compound rear tyres and was forced to run the shortened 20-lap race with the soft rear tyre.

The KTM rider claimed that he had done “three time attack laps” with the soft rear tyre all weekend, that in being in Saturday’s qualifying session.

Espargarò was struggling with getting his KTM stopped into corners, which was evidently clear with Pol running wide into turn four on several consecutive laps. Espargaro ran wide once again but this time was followed by Miguel Oliveira, the pair came together on the exit of turn four, resulting in zero points for both KTM riders.

Oliveira did not hide his anger, after being wiped out of three races in a row, two of those three by Factory KTM riders (Brad Binder in Jerez and Pol Espargaro in Austria).

The pair have both agreed that it was a racing incident and look ahead to part two of the doubleheader in Austria next weekend.

Pol Espargaro – DNF

 “In the first race we were so strong and I was even able to go away and take a gap over Dovi but then we stopped. We didn’t have the proper tire for the second race and I paid for that. I knew I would have only three laps before the rear tire would drop. I was wide – because I was going wide in all the corners – and Miguel in that place was a little bit wide as well. I was opening the throttle outside and so was he on the inside, he couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see him so we collided. This is exactly what we call a race incident. It is what it is. I felt I had the best bike, an amazing bike in the first race. So, I’m looking forward to racing here again next week.”

Miguel Oliveira – DNF

“This is a tough result. We showed a lot of speed today and I think we would have been able to get a very good outcome for the team. Unfortunately, Pol was struggling to stop the bike and I saw he was going wide in a few corners, so in turn four I saw he went really, really wide, therefore I just went on the inside. Normally, when a rider goes out, you try to take advantage of it and somehow, he returned very quick and we both collided. There is no way I could have avoided the crash. It’s a shame but we have another chance next week, so we start to focus on that.”