Why KTM test rider Pol Espargaro can imagine competing in one more race weekend before the end of the 2024 MotoGP season
When preparations for the 2024 MotoGP season were in full swing in February, KTM Team Manager Francesco Guidotti announced that the Austrian manufacturer would not actually want to honor all of the wildcard entries allowed under the regulations
“We can potentially redeem six wildcards. However, six wildcards are really a lot,” said Guidotti at the KTM team presentation, referring to the concessions for the 2024 MotoGP season.
Eleven of 20 race weekends have now been completed and KTM has so far fielded an additional RC16 three times for a wildcard starter. At the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, it was Dani Pedrosa. At the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello and most recently at the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, it was Pol Espargaro.
Espargaro sat on a further development of the RC16 at the Spielberg weekend. The most noticeable changes from the outside were the exhaust and a jagged aero element on the swingarm. Espargaro rode this bike into the points in both the Sprint (P9) and the Grand Prix (P11). After strong test rides immediately beforehand, however, he had secretly expected even more.
This is one of the reasons why Espargaro is hoping that he will be selected for another wildcard entry before the end of the season. “Two is not much,” he says, explaining that ‘it’s in the nature of things that you always want more.’
“I would like to drive a bit more, because the more laps you drive, the more experience you gain. So much changes from one year to the next,” remarks the KTM test rider, referring not only to the technology but also to his MotoGP colleagues: ”They ride differently, sometimes more aggressively, sometimes less aggressively. You can only understand that if you ride with them yourself.”
Espargaro cites the name Alex Marquez as an example of his comments with a view to the Austrian weekend: “I don’t have to overtake anyone during testing. If I had known that Alex Marquez would break down like that towards the end of the race after starting so strongly, then I would have been more patient at the beginning and more aggressive at the end.”
In the end, Espargaro was unable to get past in the duel for the top 10 on Spielberg Sunday. Alex Marquez finished tenth on his Gresini Ducati after the 28 race laps, directly ahead of the KTM wildcard starter, who finished less than 0.3 seconds behind in P11.
In 2023, KTM chose the San Marino Grand Prix in Misano for the last wildcard of the season. That race weekend is often used for such purposes because the traditional Monday test takes place directly afterwards.
Dani Pedrosa rode the additional RC16 on the 2023 Misano weekend. It has not yet been announced whether the KTM edeltester will be selected again this time, or whether Espargaro, who has acquired a taste for it, will be chosen.
