Espargaro only partly satisfied with sixth podium in a row at home race

Pol Espargaró has taken third position at the Grand Prix of Catalunya for his sixth podium result of the season and has consolidated second place in the MotoGP/125cc World Championship standings; just one point from the top spot. The Tuenti Racing Derbi rider started well and moved into third, but as a consequence of his fight with Nico Terol and Bradley Smith he couldn’t find a rhythm to be able to follow Marc Márquez. On the last lap he tried to overtake both of his rivals however lost out to the Briton while the ‘Valenciano’ hit the floor. Efrén Vázquez was fifth and holds the same rank in the standings. The rider from Bilbao had a decent tussle with Sandro Cortese although after seeing yellow flags while overtaking decided to concede a position instead of facing a penalty. The Tuenti Racing Derbi team will now head to Motorland Aragón for two days of private tests before travelling to Germany the following week.

3rd POL ESPARGARÓ
“Another podium, my sixth in a row, and I am only partially satisfied because this was my home grand prix and I wanted to go for the win but it didn’t turn out that way. I started well and pushed hard with Nico and Bradley but Márquez was really strong and we couldn’t hunt him down. I am now second in the championship and just one point from the lead. We will keep working hard to maintain this level of consistency and, if it is possible, try to increase our speed and performance in the coming weeks. On the last lap I out-braked Smith and Terol but then had a slide with the rear wheel and Brad overtook me. It is important that we won good points today and this time Nico made a mistake. In a championship we play for victories but it is also vital to make sure there as a few ‘0’s on the scorecard as possible.”

5th EFRÉN VÁZQUEZ
“I reckon I could have been fourth but when I was passing Cortese I caught sight of a yellow flag so I let him by just in case there would be a penalty or sanction. It was a shame because I had control of the situation and could have scored more points. What I don’t like is that I finished a long way from the podium in terms of race-times and I think we have to work hard to cut down this distance. Now I am fifth in the championship and four riders are separated by just three points so it will be tricky to stay steady and move ahead.”

Source: Tuenti Derbi