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We speak with Ramón Aurín, Pol Espargaró’s crew chief, to find out how he and his team are facing the upcoming season and the first test of the year, which will take place this weekend in Qatar.
What do you think Pol can achieve in 2021?
“Our target is clear: we want to get the podium in the first few races and after we want to fight for the championship. Pol is not a rookie; he is a guy with a lot of experience in MotoGP and the Honda is a winning bike. We need to push for the championship for sure.”
What do you see Pol bringing to the Repsol Honda Team?
“Pol has a lot of experience with different bikes, he has ridden Yamaha, KTM and he made a big improvement to the KTM from the beginning. Then for sure he can bring some experience and some ideas that we can adapt to the Honda to improve our bike.”
When working with a new rider, what is the most important area to work on first?
“The first thing that we need to catch is the way how every rider explains their feeling, they all have a different way for different feelings. The first thing that we need to know is what they want to change on the bike when they say something about the bike. This makes the relationship between the mechanics and the rider stronger, making it easier to understand what they need. Then for us it’s important to understand, after making the bike suitable to his position, when Pol explains the problems he is having on the bike, what we need to change to accommodate him.”
What changes go on when a new rider joins the team?
“The first thing we need to change is the position of the bike, every rider is a different size and weight, and we need to know what they need, how many parts to change. In the beginning of this year, it will be difficult because we don’t have the Sepang Test at the start, we go to Qatar almost with a standard bike. Then we need to work with Honda to have the different parts we need to modify the bike to Pol’s body.”
How has your side of the garage grown together over the last three years?
“We have changed riders a lot in the three years, but this gives us good experience to change a lot on the bike in a short time. The guys in the team have a lot of experience hand making different pieces to adapt the rider’s position while at the circuit so we don’t always need to wait for parts to be made. This will be a big help with quickly adapting the bike to Pol.”
What goes in to preparing for a season competing the MotoGP World Championship, how do you prepare yourself and your team?
“The important thing in the team is to make a big team, grow the team together. Of course, when we change one or two members, the rider is one of the main members, then we need to grow this team feeling. For sure we need to be together in the different tests and the experience in the tests will make the feeling and the way of understanding better.”
