Pol Espargaró participated in the MotoGP Austrian GP a week and a half ago and already has another wildcard as a KTM test rider scheduled: it will be in September at the San Marino GP.
This is a logical choice, considering that the Misano circuit not only hosts the San Marino GP, but also an official test day right after and the Emilia-Romagna GP two weeks later – meaning it offers many opportunities to experiment with the bikes.
In a press release, Espargaró said: ‘Mugello meant we could come back to MotoGP speed and then we felt much more competitive at Red Bull Ring where we had made a lot of testing laps. Misano is another familiar circuit and I’m happy to get back onto the grid after the work we made at Austria. We need to reconfirm some data in race conditions and also do what we can to help the guys – Brad [Binder] and Jack [Miller] – with their settings for the two GPs we have there’.
In his previous two wildcards, Espargaró finished 14th in the Sprint race and 17th in the main race at the Italian GP, while in Austria, he was ninth in the Sprint and 11th in the Sunday race, earning his first points in 2024. The Misano wildcard will be the fourth for KTM, which also had Dani Pedrosa in the Spanish GP.