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Pol Espargarò dreamed of his first victory with the KTM, but that appointment has been postponed. Nothing doing for the Spanish, who had to settle for a third place in a very daring finale. And yet, despite his missed victory, the future Honda rider cannot but see the glass half full, since he fought for the top step of the podium until the very end.
“I’m obviously sorry I didn’t win,” he began. “At the same time, I’m still happy with how the race went. At the restart, I managed to have a good pace, so much so that I remained hooked to the first position until the end. I was hoping to win. I tried in every way to bring home a victory, but I didn’t succeed.”
But Miller got in his way.
“The second restart looked like a Moto3 race, where there’s lots of overtaking. I think those watching from home enjoyed it. In the end, I knew that Jack would use the slipstream. In fact, I tried to protect the inside, since his Ducati has great potential. He saw the opening, entered, and I couldn’t do anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t have mirrors to look behind me,” he said smiling.
And to think that, until Vinales launched his bike because of his brake problem, Joan Mir was in command.
“This was supposed to be Mir’s race, since he had a great pace up until the red flag. Unfortunately, Joan had to deal with the same situation I found myself in last week. Last Sunday, the race was interrupted by a human error. This time, for a technical reason. But that’s how it went. In the end, Miguel won. At the last corner he was there too, and he was able to take advantage of it, deserving the result.”
Meanwhile, at Suzuki didn’t like the decision to confirm the Spanish rider’s third place, despite the fact that he ended up on the green at the last corner.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t understand the reason for a penalty. I was forced to ride on the green, because they led me there, and I neither gained seconds nor positions. Actually, if anything, I lost two positions.”
Once again, this KTM has shown that it has what it takes to be with the greats.
“I think we’ve worked very well, and the results of our work are showing. You can see them this season, and I’m convinced that the potential of the bike will be the same the next one. We have a solid foundation that allows us to be competitive. Last Sunday, I had a good start, then there was the restart. This weekend I started from pole, I managed to be competitive, coming close to winning.”
And now about Misano.
“Things change quickly in this MotoGP, but we’ll be going to Misano with a lot of confidence after the tests carried out. Obviously, there will be several aspects to assess, such as the weather, the conditions of the track, even if the starting point is good.”
