Is Pol Espargaro on the jump or will he stay with Honda? The Spaniard talks of various options and does not rule out a move to LCR-Honda
The MotoGP grid for 2023 is slowly taking shape, but most of the places are – at least officially – still unfilled. In the background, talks are already in full swing. Pol Espargaro has already been linked with a return to KTM (at Tech 3), but nothing is fixed yet.
In Barcelona, the signs of a split with Honda grew stronger after the new material intended for Marc Marquez was not tested by Espargaro during the race weekend, but by Takaaki Nakagami from the LCR team.
But because Nakagami crashed heavily in the race and could not go out on the track on the test Monday, Espargaro was given the chance after all. However, this has not silenced the rumours about him. He admits that it is not exactly easy to concentrate on the essentials under these circumstances.
Espargaro: Situation weighs on mood
“It’s certainly not good for the mood,” says Espargaro, “but it’s part of this business. We have to experience this every two years when we have to renew our contract. Sometimes you have the upper hand and sometimes you have to fight to even find a bike.”
“At the moment I am very calm. Here at Honda I feel comfortable and they treat me well. There is an option to continue,” the Spaniard reveals. “But we haven’t thrown our hands up in the air and I have other options that are very interesting, maybe financially better than Honda. “
But the 30-year-old stresses, “At my age, at the end of the day, I don’t want more money, I want peace, happiness and results.” But it is precisely the results that are not there at the moment, he says, and the bike is not working the way he and Honda would like it to.
LCR also an option: “It’s a very good team “
“We will look at the options available to us in the coming weeks and we will make a decision very soon,” Espargaro looks ahead. Speaking about a possible move to Tech 3, he says: “There are different options and one of them is this one. But now it’s just rumours.”
“There are other riders with options. It’s a chess game and we have to wait for the kings to make their move and then the rest of the pieces will be put in place.”
If that ultimately means Espargaro stays Honda, it won’t necessarily be in the factory team. Because there, Joan Mir has been traded as Marc Marquez’s most likely teammate since Suzuki announced it was pulling out at the end of this season.
Espargaro could join the LCR customer team, which would not be a no-go for the Spaniard: “Lucio’s team is a very good team with very good and experienced mechanics. The bikes are the same as the official ones and I wouldn’t worry about ending up there. It’s not a problem.”
