Little by little Pol Espargaró continues to take steps towards his goal, which is none other than to be fast and regularly fight for victories riding the Honda RC213V with which he debuts this season.
After getting pole position at the British Grand Prix , his first great result this year, the man from Granollers climbed to the podium at the last Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where he was second just behind his teammate Marc Márquez, signing Honda the first double 1-2 since Aragón 2017.
“We had a great weekend in Misano and we were able to show what we are capable of doing with the Honda”, explains Polyccio in the preview of the Portimao weekend.
In addition to the mixed and changeable conditions that the riders had to deal with in the last round of Misano , other circumstances, such as crashes in the race, led to the unexpected one-two finish for Honda .
“Now we have a new challenge”, warns Pol , thinking of a circuit where he already ran at the beginning of the season and in which things did not go well.
In the last Grand Prix of Portugal, held in mid-April, Espargaró retired when four laps of the race had not been completed due to a problem with the rear brake of his motorcycle.
“Having already raced in Portugal this year will be positive because we have good track references”, Pol values, recalling that in the previous race held here, Honda placed three riders in the top 10, with Marc Márquez 7th, just ahead of his brother Alex, and with Takaaki Nakagami 10th, although more than 23 seconds behind the winner, Fabio Quartararo, who prevailed with great authority.
The double from two weeks ago in Italy is not, for Espargaró, a valid reference for the next race.
“I think this weekend may be a bit more difficult compared to Misano. Conditions will be different, so we need to understand what adjustments we will need,” he warns.
With two races to conclude his first and complicated season in the official Honda team, Pol wants to finish the course with the best feelings and, if possible, achieving another good result that will solidify the work done.
“Motivation is very high to push in these final rounds and reward the team again”, he assures.
Finally, the boy from Granollers wanted to send a message of encouragement to his teammate, Marc Márque z, who will miss the Portimao weekend due to an untimely injury.
“I want to wish Marc a speedy recovery,” said Pol, who will have Stefan Bradl as a workshop neighbor, with whom he already shared the box in the opening double race of the season in Qatar.
Photo by: MotoGP
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