Pol Espargaró once again managed to go directly into Q2, while some KTM riders finished outside the top 10.
Pol Espargaro is preparing to face a unique Grand Prix this weekend. Indeed, he returns to the scene of his terrible accident in 2023, from which he emerged with eight fractures, including one to his jaw, and which hastened the end of his career as it took him a long time to recover. Since then, the #44 has not raced on the Portuguese circuit.
Rehired by the Tech3 team to continue replacing Maverick Viñales, who is still recovering, I will espargaro He therefore took to the track with that memory in mind, but determined to erase it. And the least that can be said is that he impressed once again by entering the top 5 right from FP1 this morning.
This afternoon, he improved his time by more than a second and managed to hold his own in the time attack, finishing ninth, pushed to his limits by Fabio Quartararo, who was riding just ahead of him. He will therefore participate in his fourth consecutive Q2when some regular KTM riders like Brad Binder and Enea Bastianini were dropped. His best qualifying result so far was eighth in Australia, so he'll be aiming for an even better result tomorrow.
“Fabio Quartararo is a rider who keeps attacking even when there’s someone behind him, and that’s why he’s one of the best riders, because he’s confident. I tried to follow him, I tried to attack as much as possible. It was really difficult to set a good lap time today, so I’m happy to have managed one that qualified us directly for Q2.”, said I will espargaro.
“Psychologically, it was very important for me to get back to the pits on the bike after my little crash this morning, and it gave me the confidence I needed for the rest of the day. Obviously, the last time I crashed here, it was serious. Anyway, it was a good day for us, we’ll try to qualify well tomorrow.”
Results of the Portuguese Grand Prix Practice :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
