In his first year as a member of the Repsol Honda team, Espargaró has received a blow of reality that he did not see coming during the winter tests, in which he was one of the most outstanding riders, not only because of the data reflected on the screens of times, but also in the opinion of his fellow track.
However, whether it was due to the circumstances that distorted the preseason, concentrated in six test days in Qatar, or due to any other factor, the solvency shown by the youngest of the brothers from Granollers (Barcelona) in those training sessions did not continue when the World started rolling.
In fact, the #44’s best result so far is the eighth position it achieved precisely in its HRC debut, at Losail, and at Le Mans, a race altered by rain and marked by the accumulation of crashes – there were up to six dropouts–.
While trying to adapt to Honda ‘s work formula, very different from the philosophy followed by KTM, the Japanese manufacturer is working on straightening out a prototype that got stuck when Marc Márquez, his compass, was injured in the first round of 2020, in Sherry.
The nine months that the rider from Cervera (Lleida) was away from the circuits, plus the physical consequences that he still has and that prevented him from developing the RC213 , caused a slowdown in the evolution of the motorcycle that Honda has been trying to solve for months.
Although it is true that the #93 won at the Sachsenring, both he and those responsible for his team explained that blow based on the uniqueness of the track and how tremendously well the multi-champion has always performed – he has 10 consecutive wins, the seven last, in MotoGP–.
For Espargaró, who occupies 12th position in the general classification, with 41 points in his locker and 115 behind the leader, Fabio Quartararo, it is essential that Honda solves this lack of traction in the current model, before starting to think about designing the 2022.
“I don’t think we can start work in the next year if we don’t solve the current problems first. Future improvements start with the improvements of the present, of now. We must understand what is happening to us, why it is happening to us and how to solve it. You can’t make a bike from scratch without first remedying the problems we have,” Polyccio told Motorsport.com.
If something works in favor of Honda, it is the disappearance of the limitations (engine freezing) that were introduced at the beginning of 2020, as a shock measure in the face of the impact that COVID-19 had. That will offer the golden wing constructor total freedom of intervention on the 2022 bike.
“For sure Honda is working on the new bikes, and they may have 50 different roads working. But that doesn’t mean those bikes are going to work,” continues #44.
“If we are able to turn the situation around, next year’s bike will be the one that touches and will work from the first day, without having to fight until the end of the season as it has happened to us this year,” Espargaró , who last week he rolled in Montmeló with a super sports car, and this week (Tuesday) he will do the same in Portimão.
