Pol Espargaro: I'll risk it all for a KTM MotoGP win
Having dropped outside the world championship top ten following a third DNF of the season in Catalunya, Pol Espargaro approaches the final six MotoGP races of his KTM career with a simple target; 'try to win as many as possible'.
And he's prepared to risk crashing to do so.
The Spaniard, moving to Repsol Honda next season, has been KTM's top rider since it's 2017 debut.
Having dropped outside the world championship top ten following a third DNF of the season in Catalunya, Pol Espargaro approaches the final six MotoGP races of his KTM career with a simple target; 'try to win as many as possible'.
And he's prepared to risk crashing to do so.
The Spaniard, moving to Repsol Honda next season, has been KTM's top rider since it's 2017 debut.
However, he missed out on the honour of claiming the factory's first MotoGP victories to Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira this season, both of whom are now also ahead of Espargaro in the standings.
Espargaro remains the only KTM rider to manage more than a single podium so far this season - thanks to a pair of third places, plus a pole position - but he'd trade it all for a debut victory before the year is out.
"From now on, this is my mentality; try to win as many races as possible! For sure we won't win so many races from now until the end, but trust me, I'm going to try," Espargaro said on the eve of this weekend's French MotoGP.
"With just six races until the end of the championship, I'm going to try to send it, try to be as fast as possible.
"It doesn't matter if I crash now. I'm not really looking forward to being ninth or tenth in the championship, for me this doesn't matter.
"I want to do great results, and I'm going to go race-by-race just trying my maximum.
"If I'm going to crash just trying to win the race, it is what it is."
In terms of KTM's chances this weekend at Le Mans, Espargaro feels they will be better off than in the similarly chilly Catalunya conditions.
"Normally we struggle when we go out of the perfect window of temperatures for the tyres, but here it's a little bit different because the track is super grippy," he said.
"And also, we have another thing for Sunday in that we will start the MotoGP race before Moto2, so we won't have Dunlop rubber on the track.
"When we are struggling it's because the grip goes down, and we are not able to warm the tyre because we don't get the grip."
