Maverick Vinales<\/a> at Portimao last November.<\/p>\nDespite the trauma, Espargaro was determined to ride at the track again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m so proud of Pol to face the fears,\u201d Trevathan told Crash.net.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[Portimao 2023] was one of the darkest moments of my career, also.\u201d<\/p>\n
Espargaro had already replaced Vinales at several rounds last season, performing impressively.<\/p>\n
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But nobody would have blamed him for turning down the Portimao ride. KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer also made clear there was no pressure.<\/p>\n
However, Pol was adamant he wanted to \u2018settle a score\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cPit told me that he really pushed Pol, saying, \u2018Do you really want to do this? If you say no, we’re fine\u2019,\u201d Trevathan confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPol said, \u2018I’ve got a demon there that I need to settle a score with\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“And he did fantastically that weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
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![\"Pol](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gng_1282407_hires.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Pol Espargaro, 2025 Portimao MotoGP.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fastest test rider in the world\u201d<\/p>\n
Espargaro\u2019s Portimao return began ominously when he fell in the opening minutes of free practice.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, he was unscathed, and the accident helped clear his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cPsychologically, it was so important to reach the pit box back on my bike after my small crash this morning,\u201d said Espargaro.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me the confidence I needed for the remainder of the day, because obviously, the last time I crashed here was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Espargaro went on to take fifth in FP1, reach Q2 directly as the second-best KTM rider behind Acosta, then qualify tenth, a position he held in both the Sprint and grand prix.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a guy coming in [as a replacement], honestly, it’s truly impressive,\u201d Trevathan said of Espargaro\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have the fastest test rider in the world. That\u2019s absolutely clear for everyone.<\/p>\n
![\"Pol](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gng_1281822_hires.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Pol Espargaro, 2025 Portimao MotoGP.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what I really love is just the calmness he has about him now when he’s going riding, and the smile.<\/p>\n
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\u201cBecause he was a guy who pumped himself up so much and [really felt] the anxiety and everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the pressure’s gone\u2026 He’s really enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Espargaro, 34, remains a KTM test and replacement rider for 2026, while also working as a TV pundit and mentoring Moto2 title contender Dani Holgado.<\/p>\n
Trevathan and Acosta kicked off this season with a Sprint victory in Portimao, with the 21-year-old holding third in the world championship heading into the opening European round at Jerez later this month.<\/p>\n
Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Trevathan, Pedro Acosta\u2019s Red Bull KTM crew chief, had extra reason to celebrate last year\u2019s double podium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,6399,806,805,803,804,6398,7722,10670,26895,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-598427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ktm","11":"tag-motor","12":"tag-motor-sports","13":"tag-motosport","14":"tag-motosports","15":"tag-pol-espargaro","16":"tag-portugal","17":"tag-red-bull-ktm-factory-racing","18":"tag-red-bull-ktm-tech3","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Miguel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gng_1044300_hires.jpg\")
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