MotoGP: GASGAS enter MotoGP with Tech3 and Pol Espargaro

KTM’s satellite team, Tech3, have been rebranded for 2023 in to the Tech3 GASGAS Racing Team. The GASGAS Aspar Team are top squads in Moto2 and Moto3 so to bring the GASGAS brand into MotoGP is a smart move by KTM.

This allows a ladder into MotoGP for the GASGAS riders in Moto2 and Moto3.

The GASGAS team is also technically a new manufacturer. However, the bike will be identical to the KTM RC16 that the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team will have.

Hervé Poncharal will remain as the Team Principal.

Pit Beirer, GASGAS Motorsports Director: “GASGAS is a winning brand. It has reached an incredible level of performance immediately in disciplines like MXGP, Supercross, Enduro and Rally where we have taken Grands Prix, Main Events, world titles and overall winners’ trophies. It’s a relatively new brand for us and we have new goals. We hope the fans that follow ‘the red’ will enjoy the story. Thanks to our strong partner, the ASPAR team, in Moto3 and Moto2 we have been able to see the GASGAS bikes right at the front of those categories. It would be great to see the same thing eventually in the hardest class of them all. I want to thank Hervé and the Tech3 factory racing team for keeping an open mind and really supporting this change to become the GASGAS Factory Racing Team. We think it’s exciting and different.”

Hubert Trunkenpolz, Member of the Executive Board, CMO: “Taking the GASGAS name bigger and wider than its roots in Trial has been really successful in a number of ways. After seeing what we could achieve in Moto3 and Moto2 the next question was whether we could take GASGAS to MotoGP and we’re thrilled that we can make this step. It’s a new journey and I know the brand will stand out right away. Importantly, the team, the riders, the management will help GASGAS make a splash in the premier class. That’s what we’re hoping for!”

Riders:

Pol Espargaro:

After two rather lackluster years at Repsol Honda Pol Espargaro has moved from Honda to GASGAS.

After two podiums at Repsol Honda it is safe to say that Espargaro needed a move away. The Spaniard will not technically return to KTM like first thought but instead to Tech3 GASGAS on a RC16. Espargaro rode for Tech3 Yamaha in 2014, 2015 and 2016 when he first entered MotoGP. After his three years with Tech3 Espargaro joined KTM and spent a further four years with them developing the RC16.

This means that Espargaro is returning to a bike he helped develop and to a team he has rode with before. This move should revive Espargaro’s MotoGP career.

It was also confirmed today that KTM have offered a new proposal to Miguel Oliveira for 2023. With no second rider confirmed for 2023 it looks like it could be Oliveira or Remy Gardner alongside Espargaro next year.

Images from MotoGP.com