Pol Espargaro had finished the first grand prix of the season with a huge smile, but two weeks later the Spaniard closed the second round of the year with bitterness. The only representative of the Repsol Honda team on the track, after the forfeit of Marc Marquez, finished the race in 12th position in what he defined as a nightmare weekend.
The Granollers driver had arrived in Mandalika ready to fight for the victory after the Lusail podium. For this reason, returning to a track where he had been fastest during preseason testing could be another motivation. However, the introduction of the new carcass brought by Michelin to cope with the extreme heat in Lombok did not bear fruit in the Honda garage, so much so that the Spaniard considered all the work done previously “a waste of time”.
“It had to be the same as the tests, or at least similar. Because you work a lot during practice, you prepare the bike for something and then you get to the race and do completely different things, “said Pol. waste of time and money coming here during the winter. Because we arrived and what we had done in the tests no longer mattered, ”he added, defining the situation as unfair.
Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
His team manager Alberto Puig was particularly tough at the end of the weekend, asking for a conversation with Michelin and relying not only on his drivers’ lack of performance during this grand prix, but also on Marc Marquez’s numerous crashes, the consequences of which are get serious again, as the eight-time world champion is once again suffering from diplopia.
“Everything has gone wrong. Even though we hadn’t started so badly, the problem with the tires added up. Also during free practice we had some problems with the brakes and we were not able to classify directly for Q2 ”, he summed up Sunday evening after the race.
Faced with this situation, Pol Espargaro is already thinking of Argentina, an appointment where the team is forced to present itself with two drivers: “Now let’s turn the page and focus on the next race in Argentina, I think it will be better for everyone”.
“We will try to analyze what went wrong and what we can improve for the future. We are sixth in the championship, just 10 points behind the leader after a nightmare weekend, so it’s not that bad. But the whole weekend was full of ups and downs for us ”, concluded the Repsol Honda team rider.
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