How Espargaró lived his reunion with competition

It was with a little Trac that Espargaró took over the track last Friday to play the GP of Spain, its first event since the end of its full -time career, the first also under the colors of Honda. At 35, Spanish may have 340 great prices at his credit, he did not hide a touch of nervousness, mainly due to his new responsibilities.

“I am a little nervous to wear these colors of the HRC, I feel a great responsibility even if I am only the test pilot, but it is the biggest team in the history of our sport so I am really grateful to be able to run under these colors”, He declared to the official MotoGP website on the eve of the first tests.

For a fierce competitor like Sparró is, sink into these new functions has not been a completely harmless approach. And if he has yet performed only few tests for HRC, it was by finding the grid that he has really been confronted with the different approach that must be his now, which has asked him for a certain calibration over the weekend.

I really need to adapt my brain to my new role.

“I try not to put myself too much pressure”, had he anticipated. “I lived with the pressure for 20 seasons but it is no longer my role. Obviously, when we are part of the HRC and we are in the MotoGP world championship, you have to be concentrated and give ourselves 100%, but I really do not fix a lens like a podium, a top 10 or anything because it would not be realistic.”

“I really need to adapt my brain to my new role”, he admitted after the first day, “Because obviously, when I stop at the stand I still look at the first position, I push myself and I tell myself that I have to place the motorcycle at the top, but that is not the goal. I must be competitive, for sure, but in the last three months, I only piloted the motorcycle that one and a half day in Valence, so I cannot pretend to come here and place the motorcycle on the podium.”

Resume the pace of a Grand Prix

No matter how much he was aware that his goal was not to aim for a specific result, Espargaró was struggling to hide a certain disappointment when the Grand Prix entered its competitive phase. Friday, already, his exclusion from the top 10 worth direct qualification in Q2 was a first pitcher to take.

“Everything was too fast for me”, observed the Spaniard, however known for its extreme efficiency in the Time Attack. “In the last 20 minutes of the session, with the tender tires, I had a lot of vibrations that I had not had in the test, so I must understand how to compose with that before we solve the problem. So that does a lot, a lot of new things.”

Then, on Saturday, qualified 19th and 18th at the arrival of the Sprint race, 12 seconds from the first Honda, he had to make a reason. “It went well. I expected to be a little more, to be really a little more competitive, but we had problems in qualifying, I had only one motorcycle so I could only go on. If I had done a good trick, I think that I would have been very close to pass in Q2 but I did not enter it. And after, in Jerez it was really difficult to exceed the Yamaha and I could not do anything.

“I really had fun”, Avoid sparrowing, starting to feel that his shoulders are still lightened by a certain weight. “This is something against which we can do nothing, we have all the time pressure, tension, we want more, we are there to obtain results. But it is the first time in my career that I do not have this sensation.”

“Obviously, I pushed myself to the limit but on the grid, I was happy. It is a place that I hate, the worst place on earth for me, but Today I was rather relaxed, I enjoyed this moment. I really like my job, I do my best but I know it’s in Joan [Mir] and Luca [Marini] To place the motorcycle on the podium, not mine! “

Espargaró found himself on Sunday

On Sunday, classified in the points before retreating in 17th place after being penalized for not having respected the required pneumatic pressure, Espargaró especially retained that he had managed to find his runner automatisms while responding to what was expected of him.

“Today, I am satisfied. Yesterday, I was a little disappointed, really, because I did not feel competitive, I had the feeling of not being at the minimum level. I drove too far from the [autres] Honda and I felt extremely bad in the driving of the motorcycle, it was not me. “

“It was a matter of time. I felt better this morning, then better and better with the motorcycle over the towers during the race and, in halfway, I think, I was more or less on the same pace as the other Honda, which is great. The test here really missed me [il s’est tenu à Valence au lieu de Jerez, ndlr]and also a little track before doing the Wild-Card but that’s how it is, I don’t blame anything. “

From what he indicated last week, Espargaró should probably make another Wild-Card this season. However, he is not as a requestor to multiply the appearances, although the concessions allow the Japanese manufacturer. “I think I did a solid job today”, he held with a smile on Sunday. “I am very happy and proud to have run under these colors.”