MotoGP Austria J1 Debriefing Pol Espargaró (Honda/11): “We have the potential to finish in the top 10 in the dry”, etc. (Entire)

This Friday, August 13, 2021, Pol Espargaro answered questions from journalists from the Red Bull Ring circuit, at the end of the first day of the Austrian Grand Prix.

We went to listen (via teleconferencing software) to the words of the Spanish driver, who finished the first day of free practice in 11th place in combined times.

As usual, we report here the words of Pol Espargaro without the slightest formatting.

Do you think a top 10 will be possible in the dry on Sunday?

" I think we have the potential to finish in the top 10 in the dry, we just need a good strategy and not have any red flags or things like that that could distort the race. In the event of a race in the rain we have spare tires like the others. Things went well today, so we should be able to repeat those performances this Sunday. That's the plan anyway. »

Takaaki Nakagami explained that Honda's main concern was adapting the bike to the new rear tire proposed by Michelin. Do you agree with this point of view?

« Yes, I agree 100%. Honda has won in the past in almost all races with the old carcasses, and here all the drivers are in difficulty with the new one. This is not an excuse because in the end everyone has the same frame. When you touch a new tire, you may have more or less luck than others, but ultimately you have to work to adapt to the new compounds. »

« In MotoGP, tires play a big role. In fact, it's not even about creating a motorcycle that is inherently fast, but rather one that is well suited to given tires. With this new casing, the problem is that we don't have the control of the tire as we would like. I don't know if the others worked harder than us, but in any case they worked better, they adapted better. At the moment we do not have the key to solving all these problems. But we will work and make sure we have a better machine in the future. »