Espargaro goes from hospital to pole position, Rabat happy with third row, Pons 21st
Pol Espargaró took his second pole position of the season at the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello, after a heroic qualifying in which he battled the pain of an injury on his right leg, suffered in a crash in the morning session where he was hit by Johann Zarco. Polyccio started the qualifying not in his best condition, but that didn’t keep him from showing a great pace and finishing with the fastest laptime to start tomorrow’s race from the first position.
Tito Rabat has also been outstanding, finishing in 9th position and securing a spot on the third row of the grid, only 0.3 seconds behind the fastest three riders. Teammate Axel Pons improved his laptimes by almost two seconds and will start the Italian Grand Prix from the 7th row, with the points positions very close.
1. POL ESPARGARÓ, 1.52.369 “It’s been a very difficult day and luckily I finished it well, something I wouldn’t have thought in the morning when I watched the final minutes of the practcie from the couch of the Clinica Mobile. Zarco has come to apologize and I appreciate the gesture; fortunately neither one of us has suffered an injury and in the afternoon we celebrated my pole position and his third place.
My technical crew and the doctors did great work, the former with the bike and the latter with my right leg, and after a few warmup laps I could ride fast and get my second pole position of the year. I’m very happy with that result and with the pace I have ahead of the race, where I hope to make up for the last two Grand Prix, which due to a crash and a bad qualifying left me with the desire to fight for victory. It’ll be a very hard race and I hope I can endure the pain and give my best.”
9. TITO RABAT, 1.53.090 “I’m happy, because I grabbed my chance and could move up to the third row, but also a little disappointed, because I struggle to get the laptimes on my own. Tomorrow is the race and with a good start I’m convinced I can be ahead and get a great result. I need to slightly improve the final quarter and a few otther points of the track and if I can do that, anything’s possible.”
21. AXEL PONS, 1.53.787 “We made a big step forward, especially with the laptimes, but I couldn’t translate that into a good position on the grid. I will start from the seventh row, but only 0.6 seconds behind the third row. I needed one good lap in the last try; it’s clear that we improved the bike and that we’re more competitive than yesterday. I hope to get a good start and fight for points.”
Source: Pons Racing Press Release
