Pol Espargaro retires from Americas GP

The Red Bull KTM MotoGP Factory Racing Team wrapped up a difficult race weekend at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday in the third round of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship. Pol Espargaro retired mid race after experiencing clutch problems.

It was the team’s first visit with the KTM RC16 MotoGP bike to the difficult Texan circuit, and represented another stage in their steep learning curve as they tackle their first season in the premier class.

Pol Espargaro:
“We started to feel this problem with the clutch in the second lap. I was not fast enough in the straights and in some corners the front was shaking quite a lot. Honestly the guys put in a big effort this weekend with the new fairing, and they didn’t get much sleep. We were really unlucky today. I don’t know what we could have done, but maybe it would have been possible to take a point. We will have some new parts to test in Le Mans and after that we race in Jerez, where we have already been with the KTM. I feel something good is coming but we need to be patient.”