Pol Espargaró finished only twelfth in the last MotoGP Italian Grand Prix. He also gave 26 seconds after 23 laps to the winner at the finish line. A modest level of performance, to say the least, displayed by a machine from the world's leading manufacturer with the driver who finished fifth in the last championship. But it was with a KTM, a brand whose best bike finished second at Mugello... Espargaró's younger brother, however, doesn't have much to do with it since, despite everything, he is the first of the two Hondas to survive out of four entered. And again, on his RC213V, he was missing pieces upon arrival…
Here we are at the sixth round of the championship and Pol Espargaro is perhaps inhabited at this stage of the season by a feeling that he did not imagine having to nourish one day by signing for Repsol Honda : that of nostalgia for one's KTM. And yet, the day after Italian Grand Prix, he would have reason to wonder about his decision to leave an RC16 which was on the podium at Mugello…
A flag ceremony that he can only watch from afar for the moment. “ My race was a little difficult ", soberly summarizes the younger brother of a happier Aleix on a Aprilia since seventh in Tuscany. “ It wasn't too bad at the start, I was behind Taka. Then something happened to the fin in front. I lost the game approaching the first turn. It was on the fourth or fifth lap, and from there I had difficulty changing direction ».
Pol Espargaro: “we must continue, it’s MotoGP”
The freedom-loving fin fortunately neither hindered nor injured anyone but it destroyed the race of the Andorran resident: “ the race was complicated from there. I lost a lot of ground. We need to find out why the fin flew away. We want to keep fighting and do better in Barcelona ". On this new deadline, he said, implying the emotion still present due to the tragic disappearance of Jason dupasquier : " After a difficult weekend, sometimes it is better to get back to racing straight away. We must continue, it's MotoGP ».
« We approach the weekend as we were a week ago: fully focused and with the goal of improving », promised the new Repsol Honda team. “ We found things in Mugello that will help us move forward ". It will be remembered that Pol is originally from Granollers, less than 10 km from the “Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya”. “ A home race is always special, even if not all the fans can be there. Montmeló is really special to me because I grew up nearby and made my World Championship debut here in 2006. Racing there is something hard to describe », enthused the 29-year-old pilot. “ We will definitely continue to work, we will continue to improve and move forward ».
MotoGP Italy J3: classification
Credit classification motogp.com
