Pol Espargaró finished eighth in his first race as an official Honda driver in the prestigious Repsol colors. Put it this way, it's just adequate given the standing of the team and the talent of the driver. However, the newcomer on the RC213V only failed less than six seconds behind the strong winner Viñales, seasoned on his Yamaha. Better, Bradl's teammate dropped three seconds over the first two laps and only 2,9 seconds over the remaining 20 laps. The speed is there, the experience on the winged coat of arms machine is still lacking…
And precisely, this experience was partly forged on the route of losail during this first meeting of the year MotoGP. This week-end, Pol Espargaro will find the same route, and he already hopes to be able to give it a more conquering image. The fact remains that, on the contrary, distinguished colleagues housed at LCR, he saw the finish by not making a mistake while his teammate Stefan bradl finished eleventh.
On his Qatar Grand Prix, Pol Espargaro states: “ eighth place is definitely not the position I wanted to finish in » He explains what brought him to this result: “ I had two problems. The first was twelfth on the grid. This made my job very difficult. I didn't have enough experience with the Honda either, I didn't know what to put on the front tire with a full tank. This is why I lost a lot of time with the leading men in the first laps ».
The Spaniard explains: “ on the second lap I was already 3 seconds behind the leading driver. And I only lost 2,9 seconds to Maverick in the remaining 20 laps. It's almost nothing! I overtook a few opponents and gained time. So there was no lack of speed. So we just need better qualifying next weekend ».
Pol Espargaró learned more in 22 laps than in any other day on the Honda
He adds : " it was important to score today. That's why I was careful at first, which contributed to this deficit. My run to catch up was good. On the other hand, we need to improve. But for a start I'm happy, we finished the race and received eight points. And now we are ready for the second weekend here, which will definitely get better ».
Exactly, about the future Doha Grand Prix, he says : " I now know a little better how the bike behaves with a full tank. I didn't want to make any mistakes or mistakes because I knew that in racing, I can learn the most during the 22 laps. And I am convinced that I got to know the bike better on this occasion than during the four days of testing here and on Friday and Saturday during practice and qualifying ».
« It was an important competition because I was able to improve in a number of areas. I am proud of the work we have accomplished. But our goal is to fight for the world title. So we can no longer settle for eighth place here in the next race » warns Pol Espargaro which we will therefore monitor closely next weekend…
MotoGP Qatar 1 J3: classification
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
