Pol Espargaro therefore marked a little more the history of the KTM project in MotoGP during this 50th French Grand Prix. An edition finished in a good sixth place, on a dry Bugatti track, fighting tooth and nail in a peloton where he gave as many blows as he took. There was also collateral damage, but from this melee, the RC16 driver emerged stronger. Today he reveals what his strategy was…
It was ultimately quite simple and demanding: don't give up and endure everything. That being said, there were some complicated moments… The Mattighofen official explains: “ first there was the battle with Petrucci. Danilo has a strange way of overtaking. He doesn't care about anything. He enters the curve, hits the gas and hits you. I started with Vale at the beginning because I thought I could go faster than him at first... But there are decent ways to overtake. The collision with Danilo was fierce. I'm glad I stayed on my wheels. I have the marks of his wing on my ass. He also touched my thigh. Danilo and I have different ideas about racing. It was too difficult a racing incident. Today, I always braked very late, he saw no other possibility of overtaking than to push me. Then Franky Morbidelli also gave me bruises… ».
Pol Espargaro also violently closed the door to Casa Particular in Viñales and the latter had to brake so hard that he was hit by bagnaia who followed him... But it couldn't be otherwise. The 27-year-old Spaniard explains: “ I defended my position because I thought I could drive faster than him. I was able to brake later and ride faster than the Yamaha… After a few corners we even had a little better acceleration. Because our curve speed was slower, they all caught me in the middle of the curve ».
« The only chance to overtake me was with the cornering speed. That's why all my opponents, like crazy people, got stuck in the corners to catch me. But I resisted fiercely because I knew we accelerated better and had good top speed in a straight line. If you have strong points on the bike, you can fight against the best. I saw that the others weren't gods either. They just have good bikes. If we can make the KTM competitive, we can keep up with the rivals and fight ».
He finishes : " our V4 motorcycle has a certain character. You have to take advantage of these strengths... If the speed in the curve is a weak point, you just need to block the ideal line. Then, the opponents push you… But they no longer pass as easily as before. As I said: you have to use the advantages of the KTM intelligently ". To the wise...
