Valencia MotoGP: Espargaro P2 despite ‘nothing crash, I was angry with myself’

Despite a late fall in FP2 which left Pol Espargaro very ‘angry with myself’, the Repsol Honda rider showed brilliant pace to finish P2 on day-one of the Valencia MotoGP.
Pol Espargaro , Valencia MotoGP, 12 November 2021
Pol Espargaro , Valencia MotoGP, 12 November 2021
© Gold and Goose Photography

Pol Espargaro finished day-one of the Valenc💙ia MotoGP in second position behind Jack 💝Miller, despite suffering a late crash.

E𓆏spargaro,🐽 who is once again leading Honda’s charge with Marc Marquez being absent, was relatively competitive during this morning’s wet FP1 - finished P9.

However, once conditions 🦂dried out for FP2, the Spaniard demonstrღated the type of pace that took him to second in last month’s second Misano round. 

After taking 🔯top spot away from Francesco Bagnaia on numerous occasionไs late on, it was the second factory Ducati in the form of Miller who swooped in to take first away from Espargaro.

Espargaro, wh♌o had one attempt left at a flying lap then crashed at turn six, a fall that left the 30 year-old very ‘angry with myself’.&n☂bsp;

"I pushed and I crashed. That’s why I was ꦯangry. I was angry with myself - not with the team or the bike," said Espa🦂rgaro. 

"Sur🧸e, on the first day there are problems, problems that we need to improve. The thing is I knew I could crash ✅if I pushed in certain places. 

"So when I pushed I crashed. I was angry because it could have been avoided in a day 🌄that has been very good. That crash was for 🍷nothing."

Although Espargaro was least pleased with himself following the fall, he wasn’t alone in crashing as FP1 and FP2 also saw riders such as Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagna🌳ia, (both turn two), Jack Miller (last corner) and Danilo Petrucci (turn four) all go down, just to name a few. 

But despite struggling in certain points of the track - hence 🦩why he felt the need to push, Espargaro also had areas where he was equally strong, most notably right-sided corners.

When asked about his weak/strong points, Espargaro said: "I think my weakest point is the T4, but turn two is one of my strongest areas. In the right corners I was risking a bit more on t🥀he right even though the temperature was not there I was taking quite a bit of advantage.&nbs🦂p;

"𒁏T1, the first corner was still a bit wet, so I think I still have some potential to be faster. I had some problems with the front tyre already. 

"The hard tyres in the front are on the softer area. I think we will be able to use the hard front w💟hen the track is going toꦡ improve. 

"Sure, this mornin🐠g it would be a little bit better but it was very risky in the right corners.♓ So, I think we did the right thing in keeping the medium one. 

"I think with the hard tyre maybe we could avoid the crash. Anyway, overall we are doing a good job and I just want to continu✤e the same job tomorrow. The confidence is high. We will see what tomorrow brings."

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