Pol Espargaro faced a steep challenge as he made his first competitive MotoGP appearance during Friday\u2019s practice at Brno. The KTM test rider stepped in for the injured Maverick Vinales on the Tech3 team, starting 15th in the dry morning session, then contending with a weather delay in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Espargaro\u2019s lap times were 1.8 seconds slower than Ducati leader Marc Marquez and 0.9 seconds behind teammate Enea Bastianini\u2019s top RC16. \u201cThe level of competition is incredible,\u201d Espargaro reflected after his first day back racing. \u201cIt felt wild, especially since my last ride in the rain was a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
His previous MotoGP race was at Misano in 2024, and the Spaniard was happy to return to a track that had not been on the calendar for five years. \u201cI think none of us realized how much we missed this track until today. It\u2019s special\u2014long, technical, with a mix of fast and slow sections that demand aggressive riding,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an old-school circuit where the racing is fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Espargaro is working with Vinales\u2019 current RC16 setup and testing some adjustments. \u201cI\u2019m riding Maverick\u2019s bike and using some of my test settings. We tweaked the electronics slightly and gathered useful data for the factory engineers. It was a solid day, and I\u2019m excited to try a dry session tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 34, Espargaro\u2019s Saturday begins with final practice and Qualifying 1, which includes Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Digiannantonio, Fabio Quartararo, and KTM factory rider Brad Binder. \u201cQ1 is known to be intense, so it\u2019s a valuable learning experience,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Enea Bastianini made a strong return from illness, securing eighth place and direct entry to Qualifying 2. \u201cI\u2019m not at full strength, but making it to the second qualifying round for the first time this year is a big boost,\u201d said Bastianini, who had been out with food poisoning. \u201cFinishing in the top 10 on Friday is important for morale after a tough week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fan Take: Pol Espargaro\u2019s return injects fresh energy and talent into the MotoGP lineup, reaffirming the competitive depth of the field. His comeback at a beloved classic track highlights the enduring passion and skill driving the sport forward, promising thrilling race weekends ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pol Espargaro faced a steep challenge as he made his first competitive MotoGP appearance during Friday\u2019s practice at Brno. The KTM test rider stepped in for the injured Maverick Vinales on the Tech3 team, starting 15th in the dry morning session, then contending with a weather delay in the afternoon. Espargaro\u2019s lap times were 1.8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1005,4403,3346,19,21,4402,117,3467],"class_list":{"0":"post-14591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-comeback","9":"tag-discovers","10":"tag-espargaro","11":"tag-formula","12":"tag-motogp","13":"tag-pol","14":"tag-racing","15":"tag-unusual"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}