Qualified in tenth position, the 25-year-old rider from the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team completed his first lap in exactly the same place, then progressed by overtaking the Suzuki of his brother Aleix on the eighth lap. He crossed the finish line in ninth position, but Cal Crutchlow, who preceded him, received a penalty for exceeding the track limits.
Pol was therefore finally ranked eighth, but above all first in the Independent rankings. He thus got closer to Crutchlow in the general classification of this category, while allowing Tech 3 to consolidate its fifth position in the team championship, behind the four official teams Honda, Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki.
“I did my absolute best in today's race, but I have to admit it was a tough GP. It was very physically demanding and I struggled with the fuel tank, the bike was moving a lot and my leg started to hurt a little, which certainly didn't make things any easier. Furthermore, at first it was difficult for me to get through Aleix because his bike seemed superior, but I attacked and overtook him on the eighth lap because he made a small mistake entering the last corner, which I passed perfectly.
“In the last laps of the race, I chased Callus and I got closer to him because he was suffering a lot, and in addition I turned in 1'33.9 on the penultimate lap, which helped to reduce the gap to 1,4 seconds and I gave everything I had because I thought he might get a penalty.
“It was good that I was first among the satellite team drivers, but it wasn't the way I would have wanted it after the weekend I had. I'm only four points behind Cal in the standings, so we have to try to narrow it down in the next race and so I'll be back stronger in Aragon."
