Pol Espargaro: “Not normal to see Pecco Bagnaia fighting against me”
KTM stand-in Pol Espargaro comes out on top of a last-lap duel with Francesco Bagnaia at the Hungarian MotoGP.
Pol Espargaro’s second MotoGP stand-in ride at Tech3 KTM ended with the test rider defeating double champion Francesco Bagnaia in a last-lap battle for eighth at Balaton Park.
Just as in Brno, where he finished ninth, Espargaro was competitive against the full-time RC16 riders from the start of the Hungarian weekend.
That included finishing tenth and top KTM in Saturday’s Sprint, after Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini crashed out.
Sunday’s grand prix then saw Espargaro shadow factory KTM rider Brad Binder for almost the entire race, both gaining places as rivals faltered.
The orange bikes then jumped Bagnaia’s Ducati when the Italian served a long lap penalty at mid-distance.
But Bagnaia looked set to recover eighth on the final lap, until a mistake handed the position back to Espargaro.
“I was braking pretty late, but he overtook me on the last lap, in the first corner,” Espargaro recalled.
“I was planning to try to overtake him on the back straight in corner five. But I think he knew it.
"So he braked pretty late. And I think he overbraked. He went wide and I could take profit and go inside.”
"Sooner or later, he's going to come back"
Espargaro, who has followed Bagnaia struggles this season as a television pundit for DAZN, admitted: “It's not normal to see Pecco fighting against me. It's not his position.
“But sooner or later, he's going to come back. And we are going to enjoy again seeing Pecco fighting for the top.”
KTM had three riders inside the MotoGP top eight on Sunday, when Pedro Acosta finished second to Marc Marquez.
“It was a solid weekend for KTM, and all the work done in the background with the test team is paying off because it looks like the guys have found the confidence needed to perform,” Espargaro said.
“I am so happy for Pedro, and even if he crashed, Enea [Bastianini] was amongst the fastest all weekend too, so we can be proud of the weekend.
“I have enjoyed this weekend a lot, although I also wish for Maverick to be back as soon as possible with us.”
Maverick Vinales, still recovering from a shoulder injury at Sachsenring, has his next chance to return during his home round in Barcelona on September 5-7.
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