MotoGP: Pol Espargaro: At least it happened after the finish!
Pol Espargaro's British MotoGP came to a dramatic end when he was thrown from his Red Bull KTM after the chequered flag.
Having crossed the finish🎃 line in eleventh, the rear-wheel of Espargaro's RC16 then locked-up as he entered Cops🎐e corner, sending the Spaniard into the air.
"The rear-wheel lo𒁃cked up straight away, but 👍honestly I'm happy because we crossed the line," he said.
Pol Espargaro's British MotoGP came to a dramatic end when he was thrown from his Red Bull KTM after the chequered flag.
Having crossed the finish line in eleventh, th𝓀e rear-wheel of ♏Espargaro's RC16 then locked-up as he entered Copse corner, sending the Spaniard into the air.
"The rear-wheel lo🍌cke🉐d up straight away, but honestly I'm happy because we crossed the line," he said.
While joking that after the finish is the best timeꦯ for a technical problem, he admitted: "Maybe the right time would have been when the bike is straight! But we crossed the line, no injuries and almost finished in the top ten.
"It c♎an happen, I mean we are discovering things with the bike and sometimes there will be problems."
Team Manager MotoGP Mike Leitner added: "Pol♛ h𝓡ad a spill off the bike after the line with a problem we've never seen before, but we'll learn from that."
Pol Espargaro falls after the finish: "The rear-wh🧔eel locked up straight away, but I'm happy because we cro⭕ssed the line"
— mahbx.com MotoGP (@crash_motogp)
Espargaro rose to ninth in🌳 the early stages of the race, but struggled to keep pace once the rear grip reduced. At one stage he slipped to 15th, but accidents and technical failures ahead helped him regain positions.
The #44 took the chequered flag 3𝄹0-seconds✤ behind race winner Andrea Dovizioso.
"When the rear tyre dropped I couldn’t continue following the top guys, especially with full lean angle I couldn't open th🦹e throttle and follow the line," Espargaro explained. "With Dani [Pedrosa] I was comfortable the first laps, then some riders started to overtake me and my rhythm dropped m𓂃uch more than them.
"We struggled more than we expected in this heat. But with full grip at the beginning I did a 2m 3s and I was able to - maybe not follow Dani 𒁏- but stay there. Then I started to struggle with the rear and couldn’t co🅘ntinue the good lap time.
"Anyway, I think we must be happy because it feels like the same conditions as Barcelona, about the grip, and today we finished 30-seconds from the top [instead of 49-seconds] and we could fight with the t🔴op guys when we had full grip."
Espargaro made clear that whatever caused his slow-down la🅺p accident hadn't hindered him during the race.
"We had our problem [after the f༒inish] but the eng⛄ine was fantastic during the race."
Team-mate Br🙈adley Smith finished 17th and last, 18-seconds behind Espargaro.
Peter has been in the ꦚpaddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
