Pol Espargaro Slams Honda Engineers - Missing Work Ethic

Categories:   MotoGP  

Pol Espargaro has no regrets about his time at Repsol Honda. Now the Spaniard is lashing out against his old team.

After a difficult time at Repsol Honda, Pol Espargaro will start for GasGas in MotoGP for the first time in 2023. He wants to forget the two messed-up Honda years in the Spanish team. 

“It was frustrating and very hard. Being at Repsol Honda is a privilege, very few riders are chosen to wear those colors.”

“I felt it was my duty to be the leader for such a project with Marc Márquez, but it wasn’t like that.”

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The first season in the Japanese’s colors did not go according to plan at all for Espargaro. At least the second series started promisingly with a podium finish in Qatar in 2022.

The 31-year-old explains to “L’Esportiu de Catalunya” how the good starting position turned into an absolute disaster.

“I thought at the time that the season would be very good. I had the best pre-season of my career – both in Thailand, where I was fastest [at the test], and in Malaysia, where it had never gone very well, neither for me nor for Honda.”

“In the first race in Qatar, I led for a long time, in Argentina, I started from the front row. This was followed by a decline that brought poor results, a lack of confidence and many crashes.”

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Above all, the Spaniard was disappointed by his own team. After Marc Marquez’s injury, the morale in the team changed.

“With Marc Márquez’s injury, Honda decided to stop the development of the bike. We didn’t know how to fix the problem or didn’t have the tools to do it.”

Lack of enthusiasm and missing work ethic

Espargaro points out how the team subsequently tripped themselves up. He slams the engineers of his former team.

“It all comes down to the lack of enthusiasm and work from the engineers who should have resolved the situation in time.”

Ultimately the one who had to deal with the mess on the track, Espargaro found himself left alone in a situation he had nothing to fight for.

“You see that you are not doing well, that the expectations are big and you can’t do anything because nobody helps you and your hands and feet are tied.” 

“Things are not getting better, there are no new parts to take the situation in a different direction and that makes you despair because you don’t see a way out.”

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