The Portuguese Grand Prix was a disappointment for Repsol Honda rookie Paul Espargaro: without even three laps, the Catalan returned to the pit lane, where it immediately became clear that there was some problem with the motorcycle.
From the race partner Marc Marquez was brought out by a technical problem with the rear brake – it just stopped working. Paul, who uses the rear brake a lot when cornering, decided to pull out. “We don’t yet know what happened to him and why, but after a couple of laps the rear brake just disappeared. Because of this, I drove to the safety zone a couple of times, lost several positions and no longer saw any reason to continue the fight, “said Espargaro after the race. Then, after the end of the stage, at a press briefing, Paul added: “If we had a leak, its appearance on the track could lead to dangerous consequences for others. Knowing this, I tried to return to the pit lane. Unfortunately, we were unable to understand the nature of this problem. This happens in races. We look forward to returning to Jerez and showing our best. In addition, Stefan [Bradl] managed to carry out a number of important tests and prepared a lot of important information for our engineers. “
Repsol Honda acknowledged that what happened to Paul Espargaro was an unfortunate coincidence that does sometimes happen in technical sports. The team has no complaints about the pilot. In the very first race of the season – the Qatar Grand Prix, Espargaro immediately entered the TOP-10 and finished his debut MotoGP stage 8th. Portuguese Grand Prix MotoGP Results MotoGP Championship Positions After Portuguese Grand Prix