Motegi.- The second half of Pol Espargaró’s season in his second year at HRC is being an unstoppable downward drift that, however, this Friday found an oasis by managing to stop the clock in 1.44.678, the seventh fastest time of the first and only training of the day in Motegi. A time that helps him to be in the top 10 and, given the forecast of heavy rains for Saturday, to have his homework done for the official timed session.
“It was better than I expected, but with the medium tire we had the same problems as always. We put the softer compound and things improved, that’s why we are so close to the first”, explained the Spaniard, lost at the bottom of the classification in the last great prizes.
“More than the times, the best thing is that with the soft rubber I felt good. The rain benefits us if the others don’t have time to modify the bike,” he added.
After many weeks without being able to ride fast, the Honda rider was able to unexpectedly find the way to be among the best.
“ I don’t even understand why we are competitive again with soft rubber. I convey my feelings and the team should understand it. We are not able to understand why I was fast today,” he lamented.
Pol does not find an explanation for why his performance is so poor despite trying everything.
“ We always put the soft rubber, and normally we are seven tenths or one second behind the fastest. Today, on the other hand, we are only one tenth. The faces are surprising, at least mine,” he admitted.
Normally, the Honda riders work on Friday with race tires, which here would be the average, but given the rain forecast for Saturday, they took advantage of the final part of the session, extended as it was the only one of the day, to fit the softer compound.
“ We put the sets of soft tires because the rain is expected to arrive on Saturday,” he recalled.
Despite the obvious improvement, the rider from Granollers, who will leave HRC at the end of the season to return to the KTM discipline, has not received any improvements to his bike since the Barcelona tests in June.
“ I do not have any improvement in the motorcycle”, he certified.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
