Solid effort on Silverstone day one by Pol Espargaro

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Pol Espargaro positively concluded the first day of the British Grand Prix as he took the first steps in setting up his Yamaha for Sunday’s round 12 fight.

The Spaniard began by completing the opening shakedown in 6th and just over a tenth of a second back from third place. The confident start left the 25-year-old eager for the afternoon practice and when it commenced, he carried on as he took advantage of the dry session, with rain expected over the weekend.

After completing 16 laps, his best time saw him finish in 11th and only 0.541 back from the quickest Factory Yamaha MotoGP bike. Now the top independent rider in this year’s championship standings fully intends to increase his pace further tomorrow in order to clinch a solid grid position for Sunday’s race.

Pol Espargaro
“Overall, the opening day at Silverstone has been a solid one and I am confident that I can climb the standings more tomorrow. We started pretty well and in FP1 I felt really comfortable on the bike. Then, we managed to improve quite a lot in the afternoon, however, we just missed out on the top ten at the end of the day. Therefore, this is a bit disappointing considering that the weather forecast for tomorrow morning is uncertain. Anyway, today the grip level changed a lot between the two sessions, and for some reason, I just didn’t have the same feeling. Now we will have a good look into the data and I am sure that we will find a solution to turn around this slight issue. The main area where we still have a margin of improvement to make is the corner speed. Moreover, we began to explore tyre options today, but it is too early to make a decision on which compound we will use on Sunday as the track conditions will continue to change. Even if it rains tomorrow, I am convinced that we can do a good job and hopefully, score a strong qualifying position.”

Source: Tech3