MotoGP: Pol Espargaró continues to fumble in the dark

Pol Espargaró is the Honda mystery so far this season. Having coming from KTM to replace Alex Marquez, who moves across to LCR, number 44 has not yet found the confidence he needs to tame the RC213V. In the first three races of the season, the Spaniard has scored an eighth-place finish, a thirteenth place, and a DNF, not exactly results worthy of a factory HRC rider.

A similar situation to that seen in 2019, when Jorge Lorenzo came to Honda with the intention of beating Marc Marquez, only to find himself dealing with crashes, mistakes and injuries.

 Miles under his belt

After the Portimão race, Pol himself explained the situation: “To be competitive, I need more track time and experience. I’m still understanding the bike and the tracks we’ve raced at are not the best for me because they don’t exactly suit the Honda”, he says. “I hope things change at Jerez, where we’ll have more references. I’ll try to do what I’ve struggled to do thus far, or rather put together the various sectors and find a rhythm”.

A rhythm that a certain Marc Marquez is not lacking. Returning ninth months after his Jerez injury, he was immediately able to finish the Portimao race as the top Honda rider, crossing the line seventh, 13 seconds from winner Fabio Quartararo. A result he achieved without overdoing it, and enough to beat brother Alex (eighth) and Nagakami (tenth).

How can a rider who’s been out for months, even a phenomenon like Marquez, finish as the top Honda rider? The feeling is that they have a lot of work to do in Honda in order to develop the RC213V so that other riders can exploit it rather than only #93. We’ve also seen disappointing performances by Alex Marquez, often in the gravel, and Takaaki Nagakami, unable to stick with the leading group at Losail and Portimão.

Patience

Pol Espargaró needs time and confidence to cope with the return of the eight-time champion, the man to bet on, despite his period of inactivity. Pol isn’t short on determination and patience, after all he waited four seasons to see the RC16 grow and start to score strong results. A similar pathway probably awaits him in Honda, but this is complicated by the presence of such an important team-mate who will attract the attention, development, and ‘fixed-term’ patience of Alberto Puig. And when the phenomenon really begins to push, the pressure will only increase further.

Translated by Heather Watson

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