Pol Espargaro is refusing to panic despite finishing Friday practice in eleventh position, leaving him at risk of going through Q1 if the rain affects tomorrow’s FP3 session. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider admitted his promising FP1 performance lulled him into a false sense of security and he struggled as a result in the afternoon session.
“This morning was really good, we were top 5 and I was really comfortable. This was a problem because in FP2, we didn’t change anything and we found some problems that this morning we hadn’t”, he explained. “Also on my fast lap, I made some mistakes at the slow chicane and I didn’t qualify into the top ten. Anyway, we are only three tenths off Valentino and five tenths off Jorge so in a track of two minutes, it’s not too bad.”
The Spaniard remains confident of securing a Q2 spot if the rain relents tomorrow morning but he explained that the change in grip levels caused him problems with front-end grip.
“The rear grip improved quite a lot and many corners here, you are turning with the throttle on and you have to keep the line with throttle. The biggest one is the last corner which is almost full throttle, turning with a lot of angle. The problem in the afternoon is that the grip improved so much, the rear was pushing the front so much and the front was too high and I didn’t have much stability. I then had to make more angle which equalled less grip on the rear.”