Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Espargaro continues fine form on Friday, Bradl closes in
novembre 06, 2021 - Honda Racing

Espargaro continues fine form on Friday, Bradl closes in

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With a season’s worth of experience under his belt, Pol Espargaro’s #algarve GP weekend got off to a strong start with consistent top five pace while #stefanbradl got back up to #racing speed.

Cooler conditions, air temperature just 17 °C during FP1, presented a new situation for the #motogp paddock upon their return to Portugal. Temperatures would slowly rise over the course of the day as blue sky remained throughout and meant running was uninterpreted.

Coming from his strongest weekend of the year in Misano, #polespargaro was immediately on the pace of the front-runners once again. A 1’40.795 sat him in seventh at the end of Free Practice 1 after spending the session lapping in the 1’40s with ease. Improving his best lap by over one second in Free Practice 2, Espargaro ended the afternoon in fifth overall and only 0.402s behind 2021 #motogp World Champion Fabio Quartararo who topped the day. The position puts the #44 in a provisional Q2 slot with Free Practice 3 tomorrow morning a final chance to improve. Despite his time and overall position, Espargaro feels there is still more work to be done to improve his chances on Sunday.

Replacing the injured Marc Marquez, #stefanbradl picked up where he left off from his previous four appearances on track this season. Working methodically, Bradl was able to make similar improvements to his best lap time and finished 18th overall. A 1’40.700 had him 1.3 seconds behind Quartararo and within a second of his Repsol Honda Team teammate. Content with the opening day, continuing to improve alongside the permanent #motogp riders remains Bradl’s main focus for the weekend.

Action resumes in the #algarve at 09:55 Local Time on Saturday, November 6 with FP3. Qualifying begins at 14:10 Local Time later that day.