It's a Saturday a little different from the usual that awaited the team MotoGP GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 at Phillip Island, as the main race, the Australian Grand Prix, took place on Saturday in anticipation of poor weather forecasts on Sunday.
The morning, Espargaro Pol qualified in eleventh position on the starting grid, while his teammate Augusto Fernandez ranked fourteenth. However, his grid penalty earned during Friday practice forced him to line up in seventeenth position in today's main race. Later, the disappointment was total for the rookie who fell in the race following an error, while the choice of tires Pol Espargaro caused him to lose a lot of ground halfway through the race, and he finished eighteenth.
Directly qualified for Q2 after his fifth place in practice, Espargaro Pol took advantage of free practice 2 this morning to finalize his race settings, the track conditions being different from those of yesterday, colder. He placed tenth in FP2 with a best lap of 1'30.034, the first Pierer Mobility bike of the session. During a very lively second qualifying session, the times were very fast from the start of the session. In his second run, Espargaro Pol drove in 1'28.234, faster than yesterday, and obtained an eleventh place on the starting grid, his best result of the season in qualifying. Bringing all the positives from his weekend to the race, the Spaniard had high hopes and was aiming for a top 10. With the track conditions being a bit cold, tire choice was a hot topic on the grid. departure today. Ultimately, the number 44 opted for a hard front and a soft rear, a risky choice with twenty-seven laps to go, at full throttle.
When the lights go out at 15:10 p.m. local time (GMT+11), Espargaro Pol got a good start and gained two positions on the first lap to find himself in P9 just behind Johann zarco, the hero of the day, with Maverick Vinales, Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi behind him. Zarco gains a position in the next round, leaving Pol just behind his brother Alex Espargaro. Finally, he lost two positions against Marquez and Bezzecchi and found himself in P11. Up to twelve laps, Espargaro was competitive and managed to maintain his position, he even set his best race lap of 1'29.786 on lap three, which is the eleventh fastest lap today. From lap 13, his times began to drop into the low 1'31s, confirming that the soft tire was a risky choice. The GASGAS Tech3 rider tried to control the crash as much as he could, but he couldn't do much more as he continued to lose positions, until he saw the flag at checkered in eighteenth position.
Augusto Fernandez had a disappointing Saturday after being very competitive since the start of the weekend on the island. Unfortunately, things didn't go his way in Saturday's main race. In FP2 this morning, he finished the session in twelfth position with a best time of 1'30.159. Ready for qualification 1, he did everything necessary and found himself provisionally in the top 2 thanks to his fast lap in 1'28.435. He continued to put in good laps in the second moto, but unfortunately the Marquez brothers got the better of him as they were on his wheel. He was ejected by both in the final moments of Q1, and finished fourth in the session. He therefore ranks P14 on the starting grid, but his penalty for Friday practice forces him to line up in seventeenth position for the main race. Unlike his teammate, Fernandez opted for mediums at the rear, a choice that would have proven to be the right one for the rookie had he finished the race.
At the start of the race, he took the time to adapt to the pace of the race and the tires, and retained his seventeenth position. For a while he was behind Luca Marini at a similar pace, but he struggled to find a way to surpass it. Eventually, the Spaniard began to feel more and more confident as the race progressed, but as he tried to push a little more to catch up with the others, he lost the front and fell. That's all for number 37 on Saturday, who will try to bring a better result to his team in tomorrow's Tissot Sprint, at 13:00 p.m. local time (GMT+11).
Espargaro Pol : “We knew the soft tire would eventually give up the ghost, but we didn't expect it to give up the ghost so early in the race! However, he was very fast today. Initially I was able to stay close to the lead group and I could manage the tire degradation, but halfway through the race the rear tire drop was too much and I started to lose many positions, which caused was the start of the nightmare. We enjoyed the first half, which is positive, and for the rest we have to learn from our mistakes. »
Augusto Fernandez : “Today's result really hurts because we were competitive all weekend, we showed great speed in practice and in qualifying, so I know we could have done something good in the race, if I hadn't fallen. It is really pity, but us will try again tomorrow au Sprint for au less futures le GP from Australia on a notes positive. We are getting a little closer to the other drivers every day, the pace is getting really good and I am becoming more and more competitive. It's just a shame that today's result didn't reflect all that. »
Nicolas Goyon : “With the weather forecast for tomorrow being quite poor, race direction has rightly decided to move the main race forward to Saturday, which has allowed us to experience a slightly different day to normal. Even though all the teams were on the same boat, this decision gave us less time to prepare the bike and choose the tires for the race. Pol Espargaro qualified well by placing eleventh, his best qualifying result in 2023. For the race, he took a gamble by opting for the soft tire, as he knew it would drop before the end of the race, but it was the only acceptable option for him. The big drop came halfway through the race, and from there he tried to control it as much as he could, but he started to lose many positions, and ended up a bit far from the points. As for Augusto Fernandez, we are disappointed with today's result, as he had a high pace and looked confident throughout the weekend. In qualifying he was very close to Q2, but unfortunately he was ejected by the Marquez brothers who were following him on his fast lap. Due to his penalty on Friday, he had to start from 17th place today. He knew that tire management would be a big challenge today, so he took his time at the start of the race, and once everything was under control, he started to catch up with the other drivers, but unfortunately he lost the front and fell. We will try again to get a decent result in tomorrow's sprint.”
MotoGP Australia Race: standings
MotoGP General Ranking:
Credit classification motogp.com
