After completing 39 laps in the MotoGP test in Misano yesterday, Pol Espargaró finished the day with the 17th fastest time and his main goal was to gain confidence, in a slow and long process after many months away.
The 32-year-old Spaniard, who only rode during the morning session where he was 12th, spoke about his focus during the session: ‘We tried to go back to basics, ride without many additions or changes, so that I could return to a proper pace without the pressure of having to make a fast lap to go to Q2 or anything else’.
On his return to competition last August, Espargaró continues to search for his best level, both psychologically and physically: ‘Since my return, we made some adjustments to help me perform better because I wasn’t feeling 100% physically, so today we removed all that so I could go back to the bike I started working with before my injury. I felt really good, rode, pushed, tried to test the limits of the bike’.
As such, in his work he ended up not spending time testing anything new, but rather a return to the “basics”: ‘I didn’t test any new parts today, we focused on going back to my roots and we’re getting there, so I’m happy with the work we did this morning’.
