Last month Motorsport.com announced that KTM’s Pol Espargaro would join Marc Marquez on the Honda factory team in 2021, with Alex Marquez joining LCR with full support from HRC.
With the Idemitsu-backed second seat at LCR set up specifically for a Japanese driver, Takaaki Nakagami is unlikely to be pushed aside to accommodate the younger Marquez brother.
That threw the three-time MotoGP race winner crutchesDoubting his career just months after admitting that 2020 would be his final year in the premier class, as previously mentioned.
Almost all of the factory seats on the 2021 grid are secured, with only one vacant seat at Aprilia, Pramac Ducati (although Francesco Bagnaia will likely be retained) and the Ducati factory team – as the talks between Andrea Dovizioso and the Italian brand stalled again .
Retirement for crutches At the end of this year, the UK would likely leave without a rider in MotoGP 2021, which Dorna wants to avoid as she continues to build on her British Talent Cup initiative launched in 2017.
In an exclusive conversation with Motorsport.com, Ezpeleta said: “I want Cal to stay with us for a long time.
“And as so often before, we will help to find a place for him [in 2021]. ”
Commenting on KTM’s shocking departure from Espargaro to Honda, Ezpeleta admitted that the news came as no surprise to him as he was well aware of HRC’s plans.
“I am not surprised that Pol will be signed by Honda,” he added.
“I understand it may surprise someone on the street, but I know how it was and where it came from.
“In general, none of the things teams do surprise me very much because I’m better informed than [most] People are.”
KTM recently confirmed outgoing Ducati race winner Danilo Petrucci as one of its factory riders for 2021 and placed him next to Iker Lecuona at Tech 3, while Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder support the factory KTM outfit.
Last week, Dovizioso’s manager Simone Battistella announced that Ducati and Dovizioso would resume talks in August, admitting that his driver would be taking a sabbatical if he doesn’t get a deal that suits him best.
There were rumors in the Italian press last week that Valentino Rossi’s Petronas SRT Yamaha deal for 2021 would be announced in the week of the opening round of the 2020 season postponed by the coronavirus in Jerez on July 19.