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MotoGP, Pol Espargarò: “The best of the KTMs? I want to be in front of everyone.”

“At the beginning of the race, the Ducatis were unreachable. I only thought about the podium at the end. Now it’s fun, but I have to be more consistent.”

MotoGP: Pol Espargarò: “The best of the KTMs? I want to be in front of everyone.”

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Pol Espargarò is making the podium a habit, so there are no particular contraindications, if not a clear improvement in his mood. In the last five races, he’s climbed those steps three times, taking back that role of first rider in KTM, which he seemed to have lost after the Binder’s and Oliveira’s victories.

But I’m not interested in being the best KTM rider, I want to be the best of them all,” the Spanish rider clarified. “In ninety percent of the shifts, I’m faster than my brand mates, but I work with the aim of being ahead of everyone. Having competitive young people helps me to improve.

You can tell by Pol’s results that internal competition is good for him, but his race in Le Mans was not as easy as it might have appeared.

The Ducatis were incredible in the first laps. They manage to bring the tires up to temperature very quickly,” he said “It was impossible for me at the beginning of the race to follow them. My only concern was to remain standing. Then, from the middle of the race on, it went better. I had the situation under control, and I was able to keep a good pace. I was braking later and gained more ground, so I started thinking that the podium would be possible. In the final laps, I realized that Dovizioso was struggling. My acceleration was better than his.”

Espargarò took advantage of it, but he still has a doubt.

Maybe I was wrong not to mount the medium tire on the front,” he explained. “I didn’t have enough confidence to choose it. It would have helped me in the end, but maybe at the beginning of the race it would have been worse. This is my third podium in five races. The championship is getting to be fun, but I have to learn to be more consistent. Anyway, the bike is improving. The bike would have been competitive even in dry conditions. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to get on the podium, but I would have come close.”

Now Aragon is the next stop.

A track I like. I won in the 125 and the Moto2 there,”  he recalled. “But two years ago, I broke my collarbone and last year my wrist. It’ll be nice to be able to race. Maybe I’ll be able to get on the podium again.”

 

Translated by Leila Myftija
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