Pol Espargaró: “I’m ready to raise the bar, the bike is how I want it”

MADRID, March 17. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Spanish MotoGP rider Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) said on Thursday that he was “prepared to raise the bar” thanks to a “technical package” on the bike that will allow him to “fight” for the title, at the same time that he confessed that his third put on the season premiere in Qatar was “a great way to start the year”.

“In my first races in MotoGP the bike was very different, everything has been progressing and it has not been until recently that I have seen myself with that capacity and now I am ready to raise the bar, the bike is as I want it, I feel very confident on the bike and it’s a magnificent situation, I’m ready to get the results I always wanted to get in MotoGP,” said Pol Espargaró at the press conference prior to this weekend’s Indonesian Grand Prix.

And the one from Granollers pointed out that one of the keys is self-confidence. “Being in MotoGP for 9 years and without much success in results means that you have to believe in yourself and trust yourself. If I’ve been in MotoGP for so many years it’s because there’s something in me that the team sees. This is the first year that I have the feeling that I have a package that allows me to fight for victory,” he explained.

After his third place in Qatar, the Spanish driver analyzed the circuit in Indonesia, where they already raced in the pre-season tests. “The knowledge that we already have of the circuit is very important, we have all the elements, the gearbox, the tires, their durability, it is something in which we have to start from scratch, the track has been resurfaced in many areas. The tests They are useful, but in the rest of things we start from scratch, I don’t know what to expect from the weekend, there are many candidates for victory”, he expressed.

“I have been enjoying the tests here despite the heat, but I am not the only one going fast, also Marc, Fabio, Enea, and Ducati will surely solve the problems of Qatar. It is going to be a very tight race as it was in Qatar,” he added.

Espargaró was “very happy” with his start to the season. “Since the last race in Valencia, I had set myself some goals, I wanted to race to the maximum. I had set a good time, the race was much faster than last year, we see the good performance of this Honda and that is why I was able to get on the podium , although during the last few laps I couldn’t hold position, it was a great way to start the year,” he confessed.

“The race was very fast. We compared it to my race last year and I was going 20 and 16 seconds quicker. I wasn’t expecting this race, going that fast and setting that pace, we were expecting a race with five or six guys grouped together, but there it was. me, and everyone one after another, it was unexpected. I also didn’t think I was going to lose the rear tire so quickly, but we chose the combination because it was the first race of the year. I didn’t want to take risks, it was the safest decision. Maybe I could have finished second with another decision,” he said.

Finally, Pol Espargaró celebrated the support of the fans in Indonesia. “We feel like rock stars. It’s incredible that you get to places where they love your sport so much, it was incredible to drive through the streets of Jakarta surrounded by fans on motorcycles. It’s like everything in Spain when I was little, when I went to see Crivillé and I slept on the circuit, I felt that passion and it’s wonderful to feel that passion now,” he concluded.