A few hours before the news of Maverick Vinales’ arrival in KTM Tech 3 anticipated by Motorsport.com was made official, Pol Espargaro was a special guest of the podcast “Por Ojeras”. The KTM tester revealed that the Pierer Mobility Group (KTM, GasGas, Husqvarna, CFMoto and MV Agusta) had made an offer to Jorge Martin and “maybe also to Marc Marquez”.
During the interview with Espargaro, which lasted almost an hour, the former titular driver spoke about various interesting current issues. There was no shortage of Ducati maneuver, which put Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, the two multiple MotoGP world champions of the last decade, in the same team. This is a clear change in trend, which abandons the “Ducati philosophy” of training young riders to bet on media and consecrated stars, putting together, possibly, the best two riders on the grid.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Espargaro, however, surprises: “Ok, but I’ll ask. Is Bagnaia better than Brad Binder? I do not think so”. The tendency to believe that Pecco is better than the South African is certainly “because he won, because he is winning. But does Brad have the same weapons that Pecco currently has? Well, no. Did Pecco have the same weapons that Pedro Acosta now has? What would Pedro do on a Ducati?” insinuates the Granollers rider.
“The manufacturers work as best they can to be the best on the grid and I am convinced that KTM will get to where Ducati is now, sooner or later. But let’s talk about the best drivers for the titles they have, as is normal… Or rather, are they the best drivers? I mean, is Pecco better than Pedro Acosta, with everything the Spaniard is doing in GasGas?”, Pol continues to argue. “Or is Jorge Martin better or worse than Marquez because Marc has an older bike? It’s hard to know exactly who is the best. We talk about the best because he wins more titles, not because he drives better.”
“Maybe you take Bagnaia, put him on a KTM and he starts to win or not, like what happened to Jack Miller, and he also came from Ducati. Or you take Luca Marini, who was on the podium with the Ducati, put him on a Honda and he finishes last in all the races and in all the Sprints. Is Marini the worst driver this year? I do not think so. Is Alex Rins worse now than when he won with Suzuki? I do not believe. Therefore, it is very difficult to know if a driver is better or worse,” he continues. “Whoever wins more, who has more titles, who is better from a media point of view, who is better from a commercial point of view… I agree. But best driver… You have to be careful when you say these things.”
Pol Espargaro, Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Focusing on the future of KTM, at that moment there were two free seats in the Tech3 team, although by now everything pointed to one of the two saddles being for Enea Bastianini. The question for Pol is whether he thought they were really aiming for a top rider or a young person to train, as they often did.
“I understand that Jorge Martin had the opportunity to ride a Pierer Mobility Group motorcycle,” reveals the KTM tester. “He had an offer to ride an orange motorbike. Now I’m speaking for the sake of speaking, as Martin had it, maybe Marquez also had it as well as other top riders. Maybe Bastianini himself.” This means that the brand bets and tries to do so on top riders”, concludes Polyccio.
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