Pol Espargaró will leave Honda and return to KTM


the signature Slingwhich, for the first time, in recent 633 grand prizesthat is, since Jarama-1982, it has not been able to place any of its four official drivers (Stefan Bradl, Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez Y Takaaki Nakagami) among the top 15 in a grand prize, this time the Germanyheld yesterday, in Sachsenringbefore 95,514 passionate fans, has not yet decided which two pairs of drivers he will have next season, although it is certain, not only because he is his great champion but also because he has a valid contract, that one of them will continue to be Marc Márqueznow recovering from his fourth surgery on his right arm, humerus and shoulder.

‘Polyccio’ changes air

What is certain, not only because the Japanese managers of Honda do not want it to continue although, officially, they have not yet been informed, is that Pol Espargaró, pilot of the winged firm for the last two years (2021 and 2022), two podiums in 25 races, will not continue in the structure of the official Repsol Honda team. ‘Polyccio’ has already reached an agreement in principle, which some sources consider to be definitive, with the Austrian brand KTM, with whom the rider from Granollers already raced from 2017 to 2020 in MotoGP.

Although Alberto Puigsports director of the Japanese team, has explained actively and passively that “this year we are going to take our time before announcing the riders that we will have next season & rdquor ;, the truth is that in the winged team they already give up on the little one of the Espargaró, 31 years old, despite the fact that they consider that it is not the only culprit of their poor results, since the motorcycle is not up to the level of the Yamaha, Suzuki and, much less, of the Ducati and Aprilia.

‘satellite’ team

Related news

Pol Espargaró’s entourage, consulted by El Periódico, has acknowledged that the talks with KTM, which, in principle, has already completed its official partnership with the Australian Jack Miller, recently announced, and the South African Brad Binder, currently fifth in the World Championship MotoGP, yes, 90 points behind the leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), are very advanced and, although they have not yet signed any document, everything seems to indicate that they will be closed in the coming days.

I insist, at Honda they consider ‘Polyccio’ lost and, yes, they already believe it at KTM, which will place him in its satellite team, Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, where the two ‘rookies’ promoted from Moto2 are now, the champion of the world last year, the Australian Remy Gardner, and the Spanish Raúl Fernández. It is more than likely that the contract that ‘Polyccio’, who is in his 17th season in the World Championship, will start with KTM has, as an essential condition, to have the same ‘official’ bike as Miller and Binder, that is, with the KTM 2023 and not with upgraded 2022 bikes.


Leave a Comment