Poꦉl Espargaro lost half of his eventual deficit to victoಞry on the opening lap of his Repsol Honda MotoGP race debut in Qatar.

Starti𝓡ng from twelfth place, the Spaniard finished the first lap 3.0s from r🦩ace leader Francesco Bagnaia after tangling with Joan Mir.

Espargaro continued to concede ground to the Ducati rider until l♉ap 7 of 22, by which time he was 5.2s behind. The tide then turned and Espargaro had closed to within 3.3s by lap 14.

But when eventual race winner Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) overtook Bagnaia, the pace increased to a level Espargaro couldn't quite match and the #44 ultimately finished +5.990s - and just a few metres𝐆 behind brother Aleix (Aprilia) - in eighth place.

"Eigh𓆏th is not where I would like to finish, but today I had two problems," Pol explained. "The first one was the start. Starting from twelfth is difficult, definitely. The second is that I did not have enough knowledge with th๊e front using a full tank on the first laps and I lost quite a lot to the top guys."

The Honda is renowned for its braking ability, which the RCV riders rely on to make up time. But get too greedy on the brakes and you'll a fall. It's a tightrope tღhat's even harder to walk with a full tank.

"I was gaining in the brakes. This is something I really like, I really enjoy. But at the same time, the problem is when you have this strong point, you brake more and more… you go to th♎e limit and crash.

"Also the front becomes more critical when the tank is full. Then everyth💃ing becomes super difficult and especially the beginning of the race it’s so easy to make a mistake and go wide. Then if you are already on the limit in the front because you need to brake, it’s so easy to crash.

"So I was really paying attention and I was real෴ly slow🅰 at the beginning because you don’t want to make a mistake and also I didn’t know a lot about the front with the full tank.

"From now on, I think my knowledge is increasing, is much better. I’m set to do a better beginning of the race. This is what I was missing today, just to be performing better the first six lapsꦍ of the race. If I would do that and start in a better p🐻osition, my race would be much easier and for sure I will end up the race in a higher position.

"Already on the second lap I was three seconds behind and at the end of the race I arrived 5.9 seconds. So I lost 2.9s to Maverick in 20 laps. This is n💃othing because I’ve been overtaking. recovering time, getting stuck behind some riders.

"It’s a super-interest🍸ing result. Even if I was very badꦆ at the beginning, we arrive at 5.9. So I’m angry with the result because it’s eighth. It’s not nice. But we finished, took points and now we are set for the second one which I’m sure is going to be better.

"I learned a massive amount in the🐽 race and. I’m proud with the job✨ we have done, but if we want to get our target - which is to be fighting for the title - next race we cannot be in eighth place. We need to be a little bit higher.

"I know this is difficult, but after the knowledge we get today, we🍷♌ just need a better time attack on Saturday. Then if I can do that, I think we can do a good job. I'm going to go for it."

Pol lost out on snatching seventh place from his brother ൲by just 0.056s.

"When I arrived to Aleix the tyres were really damaged. I tried on the straight and if it would be a lit🍰tle bit longer to the finish🎃, I would have done it. But I arrived 50 milliseconds too late!"

Team manager Alberto Puig said: "The first race of Pol Espargaró with 𓄧our machine is a positive. It’s true that during the practice sessions he struggled at various points, he had some crashes, we didn’t find the way for him. But in the race, he made a clear step.

“We saw how Pol started and th🐎en the incident with Mir, it put him back quite a bit, but this can happen in racing. Then we started seeing how, lap-by-lap, Pol was catching, and catching.

"It was very exciting, and I think in two or t🦂hree more laps he would have been able to get into the group ahead.

"He ꦛfinished six second from the leaders and when you take away the three seconds lost from the first lap, it’s even mor🐽e positive.

"We are very ဣhappy ℱwith his performance. He was able to understand the bike during the race and afterwards he gave us useful information."

Team-mate Stefan Bradl, r𓃲eplacing the injured Marc Marquez, finished elev🐻enth.