MotoGP Gossip: Marquez ‘still the best’ says team-mate Espargaro

In today’s MotoGP gossip, Pol Espargaro believes team-mate Marc Marquez is still the best rider on the grid, while Casey Stoner wants to see technical changes to improve racing.

Robert Jones

06 Dec 2021

Pol Espargaro Marc Marquez Spanish MotoGP, 1 May 2021
© Gold and Goose Photography

Repsol Honda rider Pol Espargaro believes team-mate Marc Marquez is still the best MotoGP rider on the grid.

The two Spaniards shared their first season alongside one-another in 2021 after Espargaro made the move from KTM to Honda.

And although Marquez remained less than 100% fit throughout the season, Espargaro saw enough to make him believe that the eight-time world champion remains a cut above the rest.

During an exclusive interview with Spanish new outlet Marca, Espargaro said this about his team-mate: "I say that Marc Marquez is the best because I saw what he does, he is a different talent." [marca.com]

Marquez, who missed five races including the last two due to concussion and diplopia (double vision), still managed to win three races including the last two before his injury, while also taking a second place in Aragon.

In other news, the man Marquez replaced at Honda for 2013, Casey Stoner, recently spoke about the current MotoGP and why he would like to see changes.

The Australian was in the paddock for the final two rounds of 2021 - first time that’s happened since 2018 - and would prefer to see a switch back to less rider aids.

As stated by GPone, Stoner believes the racing side of MotoGP would greatly improve should a few technical regulations changes take place.

Stoner said: "I want to see them sliding, I want to see the mistakes, I want to see people struggling for grip," he explianed. “People starting the race really well because of their tyre selection, and people starting badly and coming forward. That would all happen with a few different regulations, and I think the overtaking would actually get better." [gpone.com]

Finally in today’s MotoGP gossip, Motorcycle Sports have reported that one of the names being targeted for Suzuki's Team Manager role is Pere Riba, Jonathan Rea's crew chief at Kawasaki.

Other candidates that are considered the front runners are former Suzuki boss Davide Brivio and former Repsol Honda Team Manager, Livio Suppo.