Portimao.- Pol Espargaró started 10th on the starting grid of the Portuguese Grand Prix with the aim of quickly recovering positions and getting into the leading group of the race, looking for his options to build a pace that would allow him to close a positive weekend in Portimao.
However, the Spanish rider ended up improving only one position by crossing the finish line in ninth, with several crashes ahead and losing the final pulse with several riders, including Pecco Bagnaia, who started last on the grid and ended up passing him on the last lap.
“The race was difficult, tough. The position is bad and the result, too. We lack what we had in preseason. The bike we have now is the same as the preseason. No one complained then about the problems behind, and now the we have all of them”, he explained annoyed after the race.
“The problem is that we haven’t made any changes,” he said.
During the weekend there was talk of different development paths in the Honda garage, but Pol ruled out that it is this way.
“Marc Márquez is not changing the bike from top to bottom. We have the same material”.
In the opening stages of the race, Pol managed to lap ahead of Márquez, but eventually overtook him at the finish line.
“Marc also tested the bike in Malaysia and chose the new one because it generated much more grip. On circuits with less grip, I think we should be even better than the rest,” he said.
At the end of the day, the Hondas could not deliver a good result in Portimao, Marc Márquez was sixth, his brother Alex seventh and Pol closed the group ninth.
“Things are going wrong and we don’t know why. The problem is that the bike has gone well”, even though the results indicate otherwise.
