The Sunday of the Japanese Grand Prix did not bring Pol Espargaró the satisfaction he hoped to get after honorable qualifying. From his twelfth position on the grid, when the lights went out, he got off to a fairly decent start, entering the top 10 after a few corners. Like his teammate Augusto Fernandez, he quickly returned to the pit lane to change bikes due to the rain, and returned to action on track. And that's where things went wrong...
With the downpour becoming more intense, Pol Espargaro seems to have lost a confidence which on the other hand inhabited his teammate Augusto Fernandez. Lap after lap, he lost ground on his rivals until he found himself in 15th position when the race was stopped by a red flag. This is still a point for the number 44, whose weekend was marked by his performances in qualifying.
« The race was a bit crazy with the red flag » comments the Spaniard. “ I don't really know how to analyze this race, because I'm not sure what happened there in the first place.. The rear grip completely disappeared from the first laps. Maybe the tire was overheated or we had a problem on the bike, I don't know ».
Pol Espargaro: “ I felt very weak and was, towards the end, unable to ride the motorcycle »
He adds : " I felt very weak and towards the end I was unable to ride the motorbike. We will have to analyze the data and check what happened, in order to avoid this in the near future if we have another wet race. Which is very likely since we are heading to Indonesia next ».
His team manager Nicolas Goyon clarified: “ Pol Espargaró had a little more difficulty in these wet conditions and dropped from 12th place on the grid to 15th place, nevertheless finishing in the points. It's a disappointing result for him, but we take some positives from his qualifications this week, which were a big step ». See you now in two weeks in Mandalika, where showers are not rare...
MotoGP Japanese GP results
General Classification MotoGP Championship
Credit classification motogp.com
