Resolute Pol Espargaro speeds to 6th in Argentina GP
Pol Espargaro rode a competitive race in front of approximately 51,000 fans today in Argentina to clinch a strong result in round 2 of the 2016 World Championship. The Grand Prix, which was shortened to 20 laps in order to ensure the safety of all riders, included a mandatory bike change at the midpoint and it turned out to be an eventful race for Espargaro. The 25-year-old Spaniard leapt into action from 10th and closed the first lap in his grid position but quickly set into his pace and started his campaign. By lap six he moved up one place before pitting at half distance. Once he re-joined the track, he carried on his climb up through the field and fought with Hector Barbera as the race progressed. Espargaro moved clear, yet on the final lap, after a hard battle he ran off the track and ended the fight in 6th.
Pol Espargaro – Position: 6th – Championship: 6th – Points: 19
“The race today has been very difficult and in all honesty, I’m quite disappointed. Fighting with Barbera and Laverty is definitely not where we want to be, but at the moment we are unable to stay close to the Ducati riders. We are slower on the straight and we can’t brake late enough into the corners because of the front tyre. In addition, in the last lap Barbera broke incredibly late in turn 5 so to avoid a contact with him I had to run off track and as a result Laverty passed both of us. This is a real pity, because even if our race wasn’t great, we could still have scored an important result and finish as first independent bike. Yet, like this we leave Argentina with just a sixth position. Therefore we have to work a lot in the following days in order to be more competitive in Austin next weekend. However, the result isn’t too bad for the championship, so we have to take today’s finish as a damage limitation.”
Source – Tech3