Pol Espargaró had a strange race in this Catalan Grand Prix, a feeling to which Alex Marquez gives meaning by commenting on his overtaking of the Honda Repsol marked with the 44: “ I overtook Pol, I didn't need to brake late, I don't know exactly what happened to him, he wasn't accelerating... something strange ". Starting from eleventh place and as the first driver in RC213V, he found himself fifth during the first laps, then he slipped to the 17th and last position before the checkered flag ended what was to be a such an ordeal that Honda canceled its press conference…
What happened with Pol Espargaro for having experienced such a collapse in a Catalan race where he was fifth shortly after the start? We won't know at the moment, since Honda canceled a post-race press conference which would have enlightened us on the feelings of the one who would already have his ticket to join Tech3 KTM in 2023... We will have to be content with a statement taken on the fly and found on Todocircuito : " we had a lack of grip compared to previous sessions, unfortunately. It's really disappointing because I got a great start and I was up there with the leading group ».
He also gave his version of the two events which brightened up this ninth round of the championship: the accident of Nakagami and the blunder of his older brother Aleix, who cut his effort, one lap before the finish of the Catalan Grand Prix… On his Japanese colleague, he said: “ 'Taka' braked too late. In the first lap with a full tank it is especially difficult to stop the bike. He started very well and he got to the first braking at high speed, and when he started to brake it was a little late and he got sucked into the slipstream of other riders in front of him and that increased even more his speed in the last meters. He blocked the front wheel and I hope he is physically well because the accident was serious ».
Pol Espargaro: “ we can laugh about it, but...«
About his brother, he says: “ we can laugh at these things. This is something that has happened to me in the past and to many other drivers as well. It's due to the concentration we had throughout the race, when you are so focused that you don't see the signs from the pits or the big screens on the circuit, you are just trying to make every corner the best possible. He had an incredible race, and this kind of thing can happen. We're going at very high speeds, and when you're so focused, things like that can happen.. Basically he has to stay with the fact that he was second fastest and he is in incredible shape, he will come back stronger ».
MotoGP Catalonia Race: classification
Credit MotoGP.com
