The latest winner at the 2019 Argentine Grand Prix, the Repsol Honda team came away empty-handed from a promising race at Termas de Rio Hondo, with Pol Espargaró falling while chasing the podium and Stefan Bradl finishing at the bottom of the top 20.
The compressed MotoGP weekend in Argentina ended on Sunday in front of a large audience, but the Repsol Honda team had a disappointing end to the Grand Prix there.
However, the race had started well for Pol Espargaró, who propelled his Honda RC213V from fourth place onto the starting line to fight for the lead of the race. Frantic action saw the #44 fall back during the opening lap, but he and the Repsol Honda battled back to fourth over the first five laps. A mistake in the seventh round forced Pol Espargaro to find yourself behind Alex Rins, but the two drivers worked together to get closer to the leading duo. Unfortunately, a mistake at turn #2 put an end to his possible podium dream on lap 15. This is the Spanish driver's first retirement since the Catalan GP in 2021. He was not injured in his fall.
For its part, Stefan bradl made a conservative run to take 19th place, replacing Marc Márquez. The Honda HRC test rider had a regular weekend which allowed the Repsol Honda team to confirm a certain number of elements, despite this weekend's particular schedule. As a result, the official team gave up the role of first Honda representative to Takaaki Nakagami and the LCR team, with a 12th place.
The Repsol Honda Team is now packing its bags and preparing to head north for the Americas GP in Austin, Texas, where we do not yet know whether Marc Márquez or Stefan Bradl will be present.
Pol Espargaro: “The race started quite well, I had a good start and I was in the leading group. I felt good, but a mistake allowed Rins to pass me, then I recovered and pushed to catch him and led twice. We had an up and down weekend, but we made a good move in qualifying and then we had a good race, it was a race I should have finished because even fourth place was a good point. Then a few laps later I crashed at turn 2, I was pushing really hard to progress and it's a shame we crashed. Our potential this year is really high and taking just four points in two races is not what we came here to do. Fortunately, we will be able to start again in a week. »
Stefan Bradl: “I had a good start to the race but I made a mistake in the first corner, I was a little too aggressive and I made another mistake a few laps later. Small mistakes which, in the end, cost us a few positions and prevented me from staying in the leading group to fight for something more, closer to Alex probably. It's all part of the process when you return to MotoGP, and it was particularly difficult this weekend with one less day on the schedule. ".
Results of the Argentine MotoGP Grand Prix at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
