The start of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was not a good day for Pol Espargaró, finishing the first day of free practice in 19th place, more than two seconds behind the benchmark.
The one from Honda fell to the ground when he had been clearly improving his best time, which left him with no options to climb the time sheet and this Saturday, desperately, he will have to seek to qualify for Q2.
“It was a difficult day for everyone and I also crashed when the track was improving. I could have placed well (in qualifying) on that lap, but it is significant that I crashed, because it means I was going to the limit”, explained Pol this Thursday in Misano .
“The sensations are not good, the Ducati make time with solvency. Also the Aprilias go fast. On the other hand, all of us Hondas are suffering a lot”, he added.
“We are going to work tomorrow. It looks like it’s not going to be 100% wet, but we’ll see what happens with the weather. I hope it will be dry, at the end of FP2 it went very fast because the track was drying out, but I couldn’t ride because of the crash. I hope the conditions are good to be able to improve the time”, he resigned himself.
Polyccio was naturally asked about the new rules that the FIM and Dorna will implement to try to improve safety and reduce accidents, especially in the smaller categories.
Among these regulations, the minimum age to access the World Cup in any of its categories has been raised to 18 years.
“I understand that it is frustrating for 15-year-old riders who want to move up to MotoGP from 2023 , but I think decisions have to be made and you never know which one is right. It’s hard to know what will work and what won’t, but the truth is that you don’t have the same conscience at 16 as at 18. All the drivers are more mature with 18, they will make fewer mistakes and it will be safer”, he valued.
“We all like to start young, but what has happened lately cannot be repeated and decisions have to be made, we cannot stay without doing anything,” he said, referring to the three fatal accidents that have occurred this year.
Going into a deeper assessment, Pol pointed out what for him is one of the problems in terms of security.
“The problem, or one of the problems, is that the Moto3s don’t seem as complicated to ride as the 125ccs were, they seem like simple bikes to ride and the riders don’t go up as prepared. Before there weren’t as many promotion cups as there are now, the two things come together and as there are many fast riders the gaps are very short and they ride in a group, and they have to hook up a lot with the one in front to win the slipstream. That means that when the riders fall they are left lying in the middle of the track and that is the most dangerous”.
“It is a cluster of things and that is why it is so difficult to make decisions about it. I think it’s complicated, but I hope it works. At 18 years old, riders become more aware of the danger than at 16”, insisted the rider from Granollers.
(Click on this link or on the image to see the photos of Pol Espargaró at the 2021 MotoGP Emilia Romagna GP)
