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Espargaro defends 'dangerous' Avintia MotoGP stand-in Ponsson

Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro "feels really bad" for Avintia stand-in Christophe Ponsson, whose MotoGP debut at Misano generated controversy.

Ponsson (pictured above), a regular in the Spanish CEV Superbike series, joined the Ducati customer team on late notice substituting for the injured Tito Rabat. His first experience of the bike was in Friday practice at the San Marino Grand Prix.

As he had no prior MotoGP experience and lacked standout results in top-level bike racing, 22-year-old Frenchman Ponsson's credentials were questioned by the likes of Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Espargaro himself, while Cal Crutchow said Avintia was "stupid" to call up a complete newcomer and had made a "dangerous" decision.

But Espargaro stood up for Ponsson.

"I feel really bad for him, because he's just a young guy, he has a lot of pressure because everybody's talking about him but it's not his fault," Espargaro said.

"If you take [Moto3 leader] Jorge Martin, who is a very strong rider, and you put him in a MotoGP in Valencia, he'll maybe not be stronger than Ponsson.

"MotoGP's very demanding and you cannot take one guy from the Spanish championship and put him in MotoGP with the best guys and the best bikes of the world.

"It's not really his fault but obviously the championship needs to be stronger. We need to create something like a superlicence.

"Another thing is it should be completely forbidden that the first time somebody tries a MotoGP [bike] is in a race weekend."

Espargaro said Ponsson's debut was a topic of heated discussion during the Safety Commission meeting at Misano.

"Some riders were very aggressive," he said. "Other riders, what we tried to say is it was not really his fault, everybody has his dream.

"If they give me a Ferrari to do the next race of Formula 1, I would say yes, for sure.

"It's not his fault, it's the fault of the team, the organisation. I think they realise that they made a mistake and it will be the last time."

Ponsson had an uneventful first weekend learning the 2016-spec Ducati at Misano, qualifying within the 107% mark but finishing a lap down, and could be kept on for the next race at Aragon.

He said he understood other riders' concerns about him.

"Obviously, I'm the first one who would have liked to get on the bike before the race weekend," Ponsson told Autosport.

"Discovering the bike on a test is much easier and no rider on this grid discovered MotoGP during a race weekend, so no one can understand what I experienced.

"The riders have a say because they are on the track with me, but journalists or others... if it is so easy, then they should get on the bike.

"I can understand [the criticism], but I'm learning at the worst of times. It is up to the system to change."

Zdroj: autosport.com