Jerez.- Pol Espargaró fights so that the magnificent race in Qatar, the first of the year, and the podium he garnered, do not become a flash in the pan and to be able to straighten the course of a season that has gone awry in recent appointments, to the point that the first dissensions between the brand’s runners about the direction to follow with the new 2022 prototype have begun to squeak.
“I was surprised by what Alex [Márquez] said in Portimao, there are not two lines of work because it can’t be like that, the bike is completely new and therefore there hasn’t been time for development with different routes. The bike is the that it is for everyone and if the front end is improved it will be the same for everyone and, as happens in all factories, that the fastest be the one on top, regardless of the team colors, if it is factory or satellite, That’s how it has to be at Honda,” said Pol.
An improvement in the front end of the RC213V that is becoming urgent.
“Hopefully we can improve it this weekend, we have designed some paths that each of us can take, including Stefan Bradl, who has a wild card . In my case, a slightly drastic change that is what we allowed us to be fast at the end of last year with the old bike and that it may or may not work, I don’t know because we haven’t tried it yet. We want to anticipate the post-race test a bit, because if we try it on Monday and it works Pull your hair out. We’re going to do it this Friday and see if we can see an improvement.
Basically, Pol Espargaró’s side of the box will work on weight distribution.
“Change positions, especially mine on the bike, further forward or further back to modify the weights on the bike.”
Looking ahead to Monday’s tests, no big news is expected to come out of the boxes that have arrived from Tokyo for MotoGP.
“Big elements we don’t have many, the bike is very new and we are trying to understand it on different circuits to be able to solve the problems, but first we have to understand why we are not fast and then try to solve it. On a new bike you don’t need a lot of new parts, more setup stuff, like changing weights.”
“We are four riders who go fast on this circuit, during the weekend we will choose different lines and we will continue working on Monday. I think that from this weekend we will get a clear idea of why we are not going fast and how we can solve it”.
the train is passing
For Espargaró things have gone wrong after the Qatar race and, in his case, he has the extra pressure of having to renew with Honda.
“The train passes once in a lifetime and this train is passing now. Time passes very quickly and races too, it is clear that the more we have with bad results, the worse it is for us and the less chance we have of fighting for our goal, which is to be world champions one day. It is clear that we have to turn the situation around as soon as possible, if it is here this weekend, the better”.
However, the championship seems to be completely insane, with many different winners and podium finishes.
“We are seeing that there is no clear candidate for the title, the riders at the top are constantly moving and others like Marc Márquez, Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martín or myself are very close together in the standings, and there are some riders who at the beginning of the year They were candidates to fight for the title. I hope the situation stabilizes a bit, but it’s true that it’s been a bit crazy this start of the season”.
A ‘madness’ that is given by the equality of the bikes in the championship.
“We are at a time in MotoGP in which the official bikes are very fast, but the satellites are the same or very similar, even better, as was seen with Ducati that had to go back and take the old bike. I mean that all the bikes are very even, the riders are very young, they are very prepared and they have a lot of talent, it is evident that anyone can be fighting to win”, settled the rider from Granollers.
