VOLUME 57 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 11, 2020 P61
ESPARGARO FIRST
VICTIM OF YELLOW
FLAG CHANGE
Before 2020, Pol Espargaro and KTM
would have celebrated a sixth-place
finish in qualifying. But the Catalan was
the first high-profile victim of the new
rulings on yellow flags. From the Anda-
lusian Grand Prix, riders' fast lap times
will be canceled in free practice/qualify-
ing if they pass through a sector where
a yellow flag is displayed. The younger
Espargaro had just placed second over-
all only to see his best effort scrubbed
off. Cal Crutchlow's earlier crash meant
the warning flags were out. "I'm pissed
off," he said. Espargaro's ire lay in the
fact he felt it wasn't visible enough. If
Espargaro had seen the yellow flags,
he would have known the lap was lost
and not only slowed down—for safety
reasons and to save his tires—but then
tried again on what would have been
the final lap of the session.
BAGNAIA KO'D
This really is turning into a war of
attrition. Francesco Bagnaia, the
revelation of Jerez, became the fourth
MotoGP rider in three rounds to suffer
a season-altering fracture. The Italian
crashed at turn one at the close of
FP1, fracturing the top of his right tibia
when tumbling through the gravel.
"Saturday I will return to Italy to be
operated on as soon as possible," he
wrote on Twitter. "Fortunately, the frac-
ture did not involve the knee ligaments
so recovery times will be faster." The
2018 Moto2 World Champion will miss
the first outing in Austria but aims to
be back in less than a fortnight's time
for the second Austrian encounter.
Michele Pirro will fill in next weekend.
Briefly...
