Espargaro satisfied with tenth podium of the season as Vazquez takes fourth place

Pol Espargaró has finished second in the Malaysia Grand Prix and claimed his 10th podium position of the season while his teammate Efrén Vázquez finished in 4th place.
Both Tuenti Racing riders did some great battles and have been together for several laps in the front group. In the end, Pol Espargaro has been the only rider able to follow the increased pace of Marc Marquez, the new leader of the championship, and Efrén Vázquez took the “second victory” among the teammates of the championship contenders. After this result Polyccio stays in third position in the championship, 12 points behind Márc Márquez and 9 points behind Nico Terol. Efrén Vázquez has added a good amount of points and is now in reach of the 5th position in the championship, his goal for this season, while he’s only 9 points behind German rider Sandro Cortese.
Next Sunday the third consecutive race weekend will take place in Phillip Island (Australia).

2. POL ESPARGARÓ: “I am satisfied, because we did great work and we have improved our performance a lot compared to Japan. I have been at the front all throughout the race and the middle of it I went ahead to slow down the pace and try to get the second group to catch up with us, so we would fight with many riders and outbrake each other and I could be hoping for Efren’s help. It prevented Marquez from pulling away, but despite my efforts he managed to escape in the end. In the last three laps I got closer, but it was too much risk to do more and I couldn’t risk a crash with just three races to go. We will continue to fight and give everything to try and be world champions.”

4. EFRÉN VÁZQUEZ: “I did a very good race and I’m very satisfied despite not being able to get on the podium. At the beginning I wasn’t able to follow the lead group, but in the middle of the race they slowed down their rhythm and I could join them again with Smith and Cortese. I wanted to help Pol close the points gap to his rivals for the title, but Marquez’ pace has left us behind and made this impossible for me. At the end I was first of the second group and I’m getting closer to the 5th position in the championship. I’m 9 points behind Cortese and in teh remaining races I hope to reach that goal.”

Source: Tuenti Derbi Racing