When one door closes, another one opens. MotoGP fans were sad to hear that Suzuki reached an agreement with Dorna concerning the factory's championship exit. But as the organizer stated, there were plenty of other teams waiting for a chance to line up for the title fight. We have yet to learn more about this, but some interesting things are happening behind the scenes either way.
Effective 2023, Spanish motorcycle manufacturer GasGas will be joining the MotoGP World Championship. KTM seems to be investing a lot in motorsport these days, given this move and all of its current endeavors. While Gas Gas is better known for its off-road racing, the company got involved in Moto3 just recently with team Aspar Moto3. Sergio Garcia was the highest ranking GasGas rider in Moto3 in 2021, as he finished the season in P3 overall.
This year, both he and Izan Guevara are leading the championship, with Dennis Foggia from Honda stuck in third place overall. But we all know that it's MotoGP that has the biggest audience of all series. Moto3 is a good place to discover and develop young talents, but most people would much rather watch the big league instead. To expand their international presence, Gas Gas is now making this big step forward but not with Team Aspar.
Instead, they've chosen to go with the Tech3 Factory Racing Team which means we're going to see a switch from orange to red for the RC16 motorcycles. With the unveiling of the new livery, we've also learned who the first new rider of the team will be: 31-year-old Pol Espargaro from Spain! Chances are that the team will be parting ways with Raul Fernandez, but it is unclear what will happen to Remy Gardner at this point.
Pol Espargaro hasn't won a race since his Moto2 days when he secured the Championship title in 2012. As of now, he is in P17 overall in the rankings, not far behind Takaaki Nakagami. But his return to the KTM chassis might prove beneficial, as he scored a total of five podiums in 2020 before switching to Honda.
The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S. Full profile
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