Today’s big announcement in MotoGP was that Pol Espargaro wouldn’t continue to ride in MotoGP at full time to make room for Pedro Acosta in the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, but what was said to be ‘joint-decision’, apparently… was not. The rider has somehow contradicted his team and clarified he believes he still had enough to take part on the full time grid.
After the news, Pol Espargaro came to social media to make a statement on his future and give his version of what happened: ‘Hi everyone, as you know I’m not a social media fan, but as I’m receiving a lot of messages of encouragement/support for the Pierer Mobility Group’s news regarding our future, I wanted to clarify a few things: First of all, thank you very much for all the messages, even so, I want to tell you that it has not been a unilateral decision, on the contrary!’.
The rider then came to say that he believes he still has enough ability to ride at the top level but was somehow «pushed» to this situation in order to open space for Pedro Acosta, has there have been some issues on this matter:
– It is true that I would have liked to continue racing full time in MotoGP because I think I still have the speed to be among the best, but the truth is that the step aside that I will take next year by joining the test team and making several wild cards is the result of an understanding between the two parties given the contractual problems in which the group is at the moment and thinking of a long-term collaboration to make Pierer Mobility Group the reference in the MotoGP World Championship!
And added, focused on what’s left to play in 2023: ‘Still many races left this year and also in the future, and as I am one of those who believe that unity is strength, we will stick together to achieve a memorable end of season!Thank you very much!’.
It is important to highlight the fact that KTM/GASGAS firstly tried to get one more bike on the grid for 2024, which would opened space for two more riders on the competition, a will that Dorna denied to the austrian manufacturer.
One thing is certain at this point: Pedro Acosta will pair up with Augusto Fernandez in 2024 and that the real truth on how everything happened, we might just never know…
