Marquez stormed the Sachsenring race last Sunday to his and Honda’s first victory since the 2019 Valencia GP, while Espargaro finished 10th, 14.7 seconds behind.
Until last Sunday, Honda weathered a tough 2021, with its difficult RC213V – hampered by a lack of rear wheel grip – unable to take a podium finish, except in Jerez when LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami just came in fourth lay.
Espargaro says he has never been so behind a teammate in his career and will now copy Marquez’s bike and attitudes as “he showed me this bike can win”.
“To be honest, I followed my line [with bike set-up] because I felt it was good, but in today’s race … I wasn’t too bad in the time attack, I was fast, even at the race pace, ”explained Espargaro.
“But with today’s result, it’s not that Marc wins because of the bike, but I say to understand that I have to do what he does, I have to use the exact same bike.
“That way I’ll understand exactly how he’s doing and how I have to ride this bike 100% like he does.
“Today was the first time that I [finished] so much time [behind] my teammate. I think I never took 14 seconds from my teammate and it opened my eyes.
Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“So I have to work harder, I have to copy what he does because he showed me that this bike can win and I couldn’t.
“Well, from now on I’ll try to be closer to him than I have been before.”
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Espargaro admits that his plan to copy Marquez’s bike in the future means “there are no excuses” if he can’t translate that into top results.
“I mean, from now on I’ll just try to copy Marc’s settings, Marc’s chassis – because he’s using a different one from us – and I’ll copy his line,” he added.
“Up until that moment we weren’t very far off in terms of rhythm and lap times, but this race is a step and I’m definitely very happy for the whole team and all the guys who have worked so hard, even for Marc.
“But the point is that Marc definitely showed the performance of the bike today and I have to be at that level.
“So I only see one possibility, to copy his settings, his motorcycle, his chassis as quickly as possible and then go into his line.
“From that moment on there are no more excuses, I have to do what he does, otherwise I’ll be too slow for the bike. That’s it.”