The premier class of motorcycle racing is preparing to head to Indonesia for the second consecutive race on the Asian continent, and the factory Honda team will once again be without Joan Mir. The 2021 world champion, as confirmed by HRC itself, is continuing his convalescence at home, forcing the Japanese manufacturer—which fielded Takaaki Nakagami in Austria and Somkiat Chantra at Motegi—to recall its official test rider, Aleix Espargaro.
Espargaro knows the Lombok circuit well, but he will need to quickly rediscover the right rhythm, given that the injury suffered at the beginning of the year has limited the time the Spaniard could spend in the saddle of the Honda this season. The objective for the weekend will be to regain familiarity with the Honda RC213V before returning to focus on 'behind-the-scenes' development work.
“It is obviously a great honor to join the official Honda team in MotoGP and I want to thank them for the trust placed in me, entrusting me with the bike while Joan and Taka are in the recovery phase,” Aleix Espargaro commented on the eve of the Indonesian trip, as reported by FormulaPassion.
“After the crash at the beginning of the year and the consequent injury, I haven't spent all the time in the saddle that I would have liked; we arrive in Mandalika with realistic expectations, given that I have covered few laps and it is a very demanding track from a physical point of view, regardless of weather conditions. We will try to understand how to best help the team and Honda this weekend and we will focus on that,” he added.
Those who will not miss out, however, is Luca Marini, who finished fifth in the GP in Indonesia last year: “I can't wait for this weekend to arrive: Mandalika is a circuit that I really appreciate and in the last two years it has been a very favorable track for us,” Luca Marini stated.
“It will be important to work in the right way and avoid some of the mistakes made last week in Motegi; the team and I have proven that we always know how to improve over the weekend, so I am confident: if we are competitive right from Friday, we can get a good result.”
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