Austin.- The Honda rider, eleventh in the combined table, was less than a tenth away from getting into the group that provisionally has access to the second qualifying screen (Q2). After a crash without consequences early in the morning, and a breakdown in his RC213V at the end of that first session, Pol Espargaró was riding on Friday dealing with gastroenteritis that left him physically very affected.
In such precarious conditions and in a setting as physically demanding as the Austin circuit, being on the verge of getting into the top ten can be considered practically heroic. The less than four tenths that separated him from his neighbor in the workshop (he was sixth), make him optimistic with a view to Saturday, provided that his stomach problems are resolved throughout this afternoon and during the next night.
“ The problem is not the bike, but my stomach. Yesterday I ate or drank something that made me sick. This morning I spent a long time in the bathroom, and this afternoon I ran out of energy. And on this circuit, if you run out of forces, with the number of changes of direction that there are, well you suffer a lot”, Espargaró summed up, satisfied in general terms with the performance of the Honda, even though he made it very clear that the Ducati, on this track and just one lap, are in another dimension: “The bike is going well, but, on one lap, the Ducatis are tremendously fast; I don’t think we can match them, so qualifying will be difficult”.
Polyccio already said on Thursday, in the preview, that he expected to see a very competitive Marc Márquez at this track, despite the two races that the Cervera (Lleida) driver missed.
This Friday, the #93 took five laps of margin before rolling again in the records of the fastest. “Marc was very fast, I was analyzing his data and there is a lot of room for improvement. We can both improve about three or four tenths, so we should be there,” predicted the youngest of the brothers from Granollers (Barcelona).
