Le Mans MotoGP: War of words erupts as Gabor Talmacsi quits

A bitter war of words has broken out between Bradley Smith’s Aspar Aprilia team and former world 125GP champion Gabor Talmacsi.

The Hungarian rider walked out just three races into a two-year deal to race an Aprilia 250 with the Balatonring squad on the eve of this weekend’s French GP in Le Mans.

The main reason centres on the failure of Aspar to supply Talmacsi with a spare bike during the early part of the season.

In a statement released by Talmacsi, who won the 125GP crown in 2007 with the Aspar squad before graduating to the 250 class in 2009, said ‘Mr Martinez promised to cover the missing sources from the sponsorship money so the second motorbike would be at Talma’s disposal at the race of Jerez.

“But nothing happened for the Jerez GP. Everything was the same as in Qatar and Motegi, one motorbike and minimum parts. The promises only remained promises.

There is also a dispute over media representation that saw Talmasci’s management instigate the cancellation of his contract.

Talmacsi said: “My life is about racing. But we got to the point where we had to evaluate the situation.

“This has been an influence on my since Qatar and it is difficult to ride when the attention and concentration is drawn away by other problems. I don’t know what the future brings for us, but it can only get better.”

In its own statement on the controversy, the Balatonring Team said ‘The team considers groundless the accusations alleged by their pilot Gabor Talmacsi regarding this season’s limited provided material due to several reasons.

‘One of them is summarised in the excellent results achieved by the pilot during the first three tests of the championship, something impossible to obtain achieve if he is not provide with the appropriate material.

The last reason shows again the confidence of Jorge Martinez in Gabor Talmacsi, searching for a reputed sponsor for this campaign – Milton Group- to create a team exclusively designed for the former world champion.

‘Thus, Balatonring team finds enough reasons to be in total disagreement with the attitude taken by the Hungarian pilot and his environment, and feels deeply disappointed to be led to such a situation.’

Aspar said “The truth is that I did not expect this reaction in any way. This year we had created a new team exclusively designed for Gabor. It has been hard to take the project forward, but we have never surrendered or stopped fighting to offer the best material and support.

“I feel a tremendous disappointment to be involved in this situation, and I hope that when everything is over, Gabor will realise how much he had bet on him.

“Of course I completely disagree with his statements and if we cannot manage to cordially reach an agreement, I will proceed as necessary to defend our interests.”