Premature conclusion to Qatar test for Pol Espargaro as rain halts Tech3 riders

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team riders did not ride in the final day of pre season action due to a sudden downpour in Qatar. It was not possible for any rider to take their bikes out on the track due to the rain which caused a reflection of the lights on the asphalt.

With no rain tyres available either, the circuit did not dry in time and hence, no riders opted to run.

Pol Espargaro finished the test right behind teammate Bradley Smith in 9th position and was split by only one hundredth of a second with a best lap of 1’55.658.

This performance signalled a positive close to the pre season testing as he undertook a huge amount of work, whereby he completed 96 laps over two days of running.

Although the loss of track time prevented any further improvement, the 2014 MotoGP rookie of the year now confidently looks ahead to the first race of 2015 where he will aim to battle to finish as the leading satellite MotoGP rider.

Pol Espargaro
“It’s a pity that we couldn’t take advantage of the last day of testing as I’m convinced that we would have been able to find some further improvements to lower our lap time and I was really looking forward to doing a full race simulation. However, fortunately we are still leaving Qatar with the positive feelings from yesterday because after a challenging first day, we turned the situation around and the pace was truly encouraging as well as the confidence I had with the bike. The gap to the other Yamahas was minimal so I think we are in a good position for when we return to Qatar in 10 days. I’m convinced the race weekends will definitely be different, as we have less time to set up the bike so we need to be fast straight away and more competitive on a single lap time, but I can’t wait for the season to start as I feel we are well prepared.”

Source: Tech3 Communications