Espargaro makes up ground with another podium, Rabat takes hard-earned two points, Pons 16th
Pol Espagaró has further reduced the gap in the championship, bringing it down from 47 points three races ago to now 23 points with ten Grand Prix races still to go, after finishing third at Sachsenring and taking his fifth podium of the season. Polyccio took over the lead and controlled the race until six laps to the end when he was passed by Jordi Torres. In the final lap he lost out on second place when was passed by Simone Corsi.
Tito Rabat, injured and with a lot of pain in his left foot after crashing in FP3, went beyond himself in the race, making up nine places and finishing 14th, collecting two points and defending his third place in the standings.
Axel Pons, fresh from surgery for compartmental syndrome in his right arm just ten days again, also made a good comeback and made up eight places, finishing just outside the points in 16th position.
3. POL ESPARGARÓ “I’m happy about this podium and reducing the gap to the championship leader, although surely the advantage could have been more. Coming to Catalunya we were 47 points behind and three races later it’s down to 23, less than half, but it remains crucial to continue working, keeping the pressure up, winning when I can and taking the maximum points when I can’t.
I started well and controlled the situation, but in the end Torres passed me with tyres in better shape and I couldn’t follow him. Corsi also passed me and in the final lap I tried to take back second place, but it was very risky and I backed off to not throw away the weekend’s work with a crash. Congratulations to Jordi Torres who worked very hard to get here and his success shows that with effort you can get to where you want to be.”
14. TITO RABAT “These are the two hardest-earned points of my career, because in the warmup I was in a lot of pain and I wasn’t sure if I would race. I took the race with calm, focusing on not making any mistakes and in the end I could make up two place despite the pain and the cramps. The crash was a shame and this affected our entire weekend, so now I will recover and return strong for Indianapolis. I want to congratulate Jordi Torres for his win, because he is a born hard worker and deserves a reward like this.”
16. AXEL PONS “I went to Germany mainly with the goal to see how my right arm would do after the operation just over a week ago to correct compartmental syndrome, and the result was positive. I finished leading my group, very close to the points and the most important was that I could push until the last lap, which I wasn’t able to do for some time. I struggled to get on the pace, like in all the practice sessions, but then everything went better and I hope to keep improving after returning from the holidays. I want to thank Dr. Mir for the great work he’s done and my team for keeping up the work and having patience with me when I couldn’t perform as expected.”
Source: Pons Racing
