Two days ago, we informed you of the rumored bringing Jonas Folger to the Monster Tech3 team in 2017, second choice if Alex Rins did not make his nest there.
The German driver does indeed have a certain level and there would be logic to all of this.
However, what could be better than asking the person himself, namely Hervé Poncharal, what he thinks and with whom he envisages next season...
Hervé, we echoed a rumor from Germany which saw Jonas Folger as plan B alongside Pol Espargaro. What is it really?
“If I make a list of the Top Moto2 riders, who do we find there?
Johann Zarco. Rumor has it that he has already signed something with Suzuki. I don't know what it is but there is probably no smoke without fire. I didn't come to see him but he didn't come to see me either.
Sam Lowes. He signed for three years with Gresini. A firm and definitive contract.
Alex Rins. For the moment, his profile, his age, his personality and his performance allow him to deal directly with the factories. That's what he's doing right now.
Eventually Morbidelli, although he was quite disappointing in Texas. In any case, he signed for two years with Marc VDS so he is untouchable.
Once you look at those four drivers, Folger is pretty much the fifth. So, automatically, he is one of the people who are likely to interest us. But, to this day, I have not spoken to him.
To fully understand the rumor coming from Germany, we must not forget that WMG (Wasserman Media Group) is a group that manages athletes through agents, such as Cal Crutchlow, Bradley Smith or Brad Binder, or companies like, for a time, Monster since it was through them that I signed my first Monster contract .
However, from Qatar, they also signed Folger. So obviously, as they are often in our box for our driver Bradley Smith, or even Randy Mamola with whom they have agreements, they have every interest in making people talk, since they want to “sell” their driver.
And so the German press followed suit. So I have to "yes", he is part of a pool of interesting drivers, but I haven't spoken to him seriously since 2014, when Bradley was in a very critical situation.
Either way, replacing a driver always remains complicated. Honestly, this is just me and I will no doubt make enemies, but for me, in the drivers available today, there is neither a new Marquez nor a new Vinales. »
Is the domino effect triggered by Rossi and probably Lorenzo forcing you to speed things up?
" Absolutely not. We are not pressed for time. We had numerous meetings with Yamaha in Qatar and Argentina, and we decided that it was urgent to wait. First they need to finalize who will be on their second bike, whether it will be Lorenzo or another. »
To be continued…
