Why Honda could bench Aleix Espargaro at the Indonesian Grand Prix

Aleix Espargaro says Honda may not allow him to race in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix due to an upcoming 850cc test in Malaysia.

The three-time MotoGP race winner has been drafted in at Honda’s factory team to replace Joan Mir this weekend at Mandalika, with the 2020 world champion unwell.

Takaaki Nakagami was meant to carry out this duty, but he fractured his collarbone in an FP1 crash at the Japanese Grand Prix last week.

Aleix Espargaro hasn’t done any racing this year due to a violent testing crash earlier in the season.

“I had no power in my arms”

Espargaro qualified last and finished in that position, 38.336s from the lead, in the 13-lap sprint.

He also suffered a crash in FP2 earlier on Saturday morning.

The Spaniard says he has been suffering with arm pump and only finished the sprint as a mark of respect for Honda.

He is unsure if he will start the grand prix now, with Honda potentially electing to rest him up ahead of two days of 850cc testing in Malaysia next week.

“I tried my best during the session, but I crashed also in the practice,” he told the media, including Crash, on Saturday.

“In the sprint I just tried to finish to just pay respect to the team and myself. But it was very difficult. It’s a shame, but we will see tomorrow what we can do.”

On his FP2 crash, he added: “I had just no power in the arm.

“I changed direction, and I had no power in the arm, and I lost the front; I was not able to handle it.

“This is why I was not sure to do the sprint race, but I tried just to finish, not risking a lot, not pushing too much. But, yeah, you could see that I had no strength.

“I don’t know [if I will race]. Still we need to decide what we’re going to do.

“Today I suffered just to finish a very short race. So, it’s going to be difficult, frankly speaking, to finish the race tomorrow. But we have to analyse later today and decide.

“Next week, actually, [I have a test].

“This is why we need to decide what the preference is: race tomorrow or rest a little bit to be fresh for the Sepang test.

“I have two days in Sepang, so let’s see. I feel good for testing.

“Testing normally you do two, three consecutive laps. So, racing here, you have to do many consecutive laps and also in a very, very high pace. So, it’s difficult.”