Pol Espargaró arrives in Portimao on the momentum of his good second position taken at the end of the last Grand Prix contested in Misano. It was the Spaniard's first podium with a Honda, a factory for which he secured the double in Emilia Romagna, a land conquered by his teammate Marc Marquez. But the latter will be withdrawn from Portugal due to concussion after a fall in training. The younger Espargaró therefore finds himself under the pressure of maintaining Honda's hope of finishing the championship as third classified manufacturer of the season. A perspective brought to life by the eight-time World Champion with three successes this year…
Pol Espargaro is propelled into the spotlight with this package from the leader of a factory Honda who started to believe in a good end to the campaign. He must take up the gauntlet otherwise his legitimacy within the Repsol team will be permanently damaged. Aleix's brother knows that he must not disappoint because even without Marc Márquez, his employer wants to catch the Suzuki Ecstar team in the world team championship.
Honda with his 198 points is still fighting for third place in the constructors' world championship against Suzuki which has 207 and KTM which has 190. In the team ranking, third place is also still possible. Pol Espargaro is aware of the responsibilities that await him in the Algarve and he would like more than anything to honor them. But he also knows that nothing will be less easy: “ we had a great weekend in Misano and we were able to show what we can do on the Honda he said.
Pol Espargaro: “ we now have a new challenge to face«
He adds : " we now have a new challenge to face. It's a good thing that we've already raced in Portugal this year, because we already know the circuit, but I think it might be a bit more difficult this weekend compared to Misano. Conditions will be different from last time, and so we need to understand what steps we need to take. There is a lot of motivation to push through these final events and reward the team once again » adds Aleix's younger brother.
Pol Espargaro retired from the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix due to a technical problem. He is still fighting for a place in the top 10 of the general classification of the world championship MotoGP. For now, he is two points behind his former teammate Miguel Oliveira. He will have at his side Stefan bradl which, by replacing Marc Marquez, will take part in his third Grand Prix this season for the Repsol factory team.
