“A break will help Honda a lot to react”

On January 4, 2021 Pol Espargaro unexpectedly ran into Honda with the colors of the Repsol he drove that season in his home garden –his new team gave him a welcome surprise–, he was excited to admit that this opportunity was the realization of a dream. Sixteen months later, little is left of the illusion of a child on the Day of the Three Kings. That dream gradually turned into a nightmare.

last week, Pol Espargaro He arrived in Assen to take part in the Dutch GP which dragged on the consequences of a severe crash suffered just days before at the Sachsenring circuit. “From experience I know that this weekend I will suffer more than in Germany; I know how this goes, ”Pol told us as we sat down to talk to him. Events will prove he was right, because after the test, pain and breathing problems forced him to withdraw from the GP.

In his efforts to live up to his expectations at Honda, last year Espargaró crashed 20 times; this year he has 10.

Despite knowing he won’t be with Honda at the end of the season, he continues to give it his all.

Proof of this are the waterfalls you mentioned. No one wants to fall. And it is at these times it crashes where you can see if a rider is looking to limit his bike or not. I try one hundred percent, like I did in the preseason, when I was like a rocket. It’s true I’m slowly declining, but I keep giving my best. But we experience problems every two to three times, sometimes crashes, sometimes mechanical problems. This makes our weekends very complicated.

When it comes to managing their crashes, riders divide them into happenings looking for a limit or after making a mistake, which they naturally assume, and on the other hand have the types “And what happened here? Do you have one listed with you?

In qualifying at Portimao and Jerez the crashes were looking for a limit, but all the others were crashes I didn’t expect. And that’s the most painful. When you’re looking for the limit, you know you’re on the edge of the knife, but the falls I had during the last GP at the Sachsenring in the first corner were slow …

The statistics in his case this season leave little room for interpretation. After a good preseason, third place in the inaugural GP in Qatar. Then, in the nine GGPPs, the best result was ninth place.

Yes, frustrating. It’s true that in Argentina we were fourth before crashing, but for one thing or another, crashes, machine problems, injuries, I had to retire. I’m slightly at fault, obviously, because when the bike goes bad your obligation is to be the fastest rider on that bike. And in that sense, Marc is faster than me in some races, so my results should be better.

How is that bike different from the beginning of the year where you are so fast on the bike from now on? And more importantly, if it works, why did it change?

The start of the bike season and the present have nothing to do with it. Neither in the way of piloting or technically. Throughout the preseason I haven’t failed! When you have a lot of crashes like I have, and it also happens when you’re slow, something isn’t working, it’s a very clear sign that something isn’t going well. And changing the bike is not that simple. There are many parts to the bike that do not depend on us; For example tires.

Wheels, subject pointers.

It’s something that doesn’t depend on us, we don’t have any kind of knowledge. This is not a criticism, I don’t want it to be interpreted as such, it’s just a fact. It is one of the components of the motorcycle that we cannot control and its character can change one hundred percent. And that doesn’t make them guilty [Michelin] but to us because of the inflexibility of what is present, as other factories do; they are all the same.

What is the fact that, as HRC’s reference rider in the absence of Marc Márquez, he erred in his assessments and indications during the development of the 2022 Honda?

Marc is in the preseason. I remember a lot of conversations we had during the preseason, though not only with him, but also with Nakagami and Àlex Márquez. Both, for example, are also fast in pre-season testing. The bike runs great! Yes, it’s true that Marc felt a bit hurt up front, but he said that on this bike we would do very well. That was the reality we were living in then. We were just shocked by the bad start, but not me, but the four of us.

The five -week summer break made by the World Cup has nothing to do with vacations at HRC headquarters in Japan.

I think the rest will help Honda a lot to react. The way I see it, of all the problems we have, the biggest is our reaction speed. We are very slow. We had problems, we found them, but we couldn’t release new parts, to test new parts. Most of the things we tried were things we saved, which we tried again to see if the flute sounded. Since Qatar we tried a different chassis that was very similar to the one we had, and so did the swingarm. That’s all. In a situation as difficult as it is today we are behind the system to lower the bike at acceleration, in aerodynamic development, we have no grip. And we’re not trying anything to help us improve it. I hope summer will help us in this matter.

I don’t think that’s the way it is on a level of competition like MotoGP. And for the record, it’s not for lack of desire or effort, on the contrary, it’s a matter of reaction times.

What happens then?

I think, in Japanese culture the way to go wrong is very conditioned on them; Don’t be afraid to make mistakes!

Safety is a priority for them, they don’t want to try anything that could endanger the safety of the pilot. I think it’s wonderful and as a driver I really appreciate it, but when you make a mistake, sometimes you risk yourself more to make a lap with a material that doesn’t work, than try a new one.