Austin MotoGP: Pol Espargaro: I was hammering the front, a disaster race

Pol Espargaro's COTA MotoGP weekend went downhill after a promising Friday.
Pol Espargaro MotoGP race, Grand Prix Of The Americas, 3 October 2021
Pol Espargaro MotoGP race, Grand Prix Of The Americas, 3 October 2021
© Gold and Goose Photography

While Marc Marquez romped to his and Honda's second victory of the season at the Americas MotoGP, 💮team-mate Pol Espargaro could only manage tenth place, 20-seconds adrift.

Espargaro had b𝔍een a promising fourth after Friday practice but his pace was then limited by front-end problems, which continued into the race.

Starting twelfth, Espargaro made early prog๊ress to ninth beღfore tyre graining kicked-in.

"We started the weekend very good. On Friday afternoon, the pace was nice. But then we started to feel problems with the front," he expꦑlained.

"After th✃e crash I lost the front confidence and our bike, well my bike, was pushing quite a lot to the ♐front tyre, more than it should during the race.

"I was hammering the front in the first laps, and after 6-7 laps I started to feel the graining in the front and couldn't really turn as fast as I wished. I started to struggle a lot, and then I was just cruis🥀ing.

"Ten laps to the end, I cꦍouldn't push the front and I wasn't turning and I could just brake late and that's it. I had not so many weapons to fight with, and it was a disaster race."

A best of fifth place during his debut Repsol Honda season so far, 🐻Espargaro will return to Europe for the final three rounds just 15th in the world championship standings, sandwiched between LCR Honda riders Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez.

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