Pons and Espargaro fighting with pain and bikes at Brno
Aleix Espargaro finished the qualifying for the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic with a good result, on a day marked by rain and, in his case, by the back injury which is affecting his performance. Espargaró finished with the sixth fastest laptime, putting him on the second row of the grid, a result that despite everything has not left him satisfied. The rider from Granollers has suffered in the second half of the session after a big moment on his Kalex Pons, which marred his condition in the crucial part of the session. With all this he aims to complete the race, trying to stay in contention for the podium positions.
It also wasn’t the best day for Axel Pons who has not felt comfortable, which has not allowed him to get a good position on the grid. Like his teammate, Pons is also still suffering from the injury he picked up in Mugello, but despite that Pons is confident to improve two or three aspects of his bike that will allow him tomorrow get into the points
#40. Aleix Espargaro: 6° – 2’03’461
“I’m not very happy. Physically I was not well and so I couldn’t move smoothly on the bike. Halfway through the session the bike buckled and I have noticed a lot of pain in the back which caused trouble at the end of the session and I could not ride faster. I also still have problems with the front of the bike and I have no grip. When weekends are not going well they have to be like this: I’m not at a hundred percent, the bike is not going how I want and I am still sixth. Tomorrow we have to think just to finish and take the maximum number of points. I have to be calm and just focus on doing my best work.”
#80. Axel Pons: 27° – 2’04’574
“Clearly I’m not too happy with the result I achieved. It’s harder for me than I thought, but I hope that tomorrow in the warmup we can try a few things that I have left to work on and that they allow me to be in a better position. I’m not too bad in terms of pace, although there is some room for improvements. Also I have to see tomorrow how the hand responds over the race distance. I feel good, but I can not lift the index finger and when I grab the clutch it costs me a little. We’ll see how I feel.”
Source: Pons Racing