Pol Espargaro showed that he and KTM are improving at Mugello after securing another top 10 finish.
The Spaniard secured his fourth top 10 result of 2019, but that wasn’t all. Espargaro also shaved 14 seconds off his overall race time from 2018.
Espargaro battled to be inside the top 10 for most of the race. Crashes for Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller elevated him up the order. Espargaro would then catch and overtake Fabio Quartararo on the final lap to secure ninth.
Speaking after the race, Espargaro admitted that the hot weather made things difficult. He said:
We knew our position would be around 7-10 and we were not expecting these temperatures. With the Medium tyre we were in a very low grip situation and we knew our job would be a little bit harder. I was fighting a lot at the beginning of the race with [Franco] Morbidelli, [Alex] Rins even and [Fabio] Quartararo.
“It was hard, hot and with many changes of direction. It was a physical track and we saw many riders by the end were dropping and we could keep our pace. Anyway we were fourteen seconds faster in our total race time in 2018 and in the end I think we can be happy.”
Another positive result means Espargaro sits 10th in the championship. It’s tight however, and Espargaro is only four points behind Miller in sixth.
Team manager, Mike Leitner, added:
“A top ten was the target for us and we achieved that here with Pol, which was very good. A positive point was that the bike had good potential all weekend. Mugello and Barcelona have been difficult tracks for us in the past and with our current package, so to make the top ten so far is very good.“
Espargaro Returns to Spain
Round seven of the 2019 season takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya (Barcelona) on 14-16 June 2019.
