With one year remaining on his current contract, Pol Espargaró ended up losing his place in MotoGP for 2024. He will continue to be involved with the KTM group but in more of a behind-the-scenes role.
The #44 ensured that money was not a decisive factor: ‘It was a long, long talk. It’s not everything about the money, because… I don’t want to talk in a rude way, but my bank account is OK, I don’t need more money. Money it’s always important in life, but I’ve been racing for so many years and luckly I didn’t spend all the money I gained. I’m OK with that’.
For Espargaró, the decision involved feeling useful for the project: ‘It’s just about to feel, as I believe every human in this world, you have a purpose in life. Like, what you are doing, there is a purpose. And you feel that what you do is useful for someone else. Hopefully my utility for the next years will be good enough for the factory and not just talking about next year or the next years coming. In a short future or a long future terms I can be useful for the factory’.