Barcia – came close to MXGP deal

Justin Barcia has revealed speaking to RacerX, that he was very close to signing a deal to race the MXGP World Championship in the past but in the end he didn’t accept because it didn’t feel like the right time to do so. The America recieved the offer in 2016 which could have seen him race the MXGP World Championship from 2017 onwards.

“It was the year we did the Charlotte MXGP. That was the time my contract with JGR was about to end. I talked to a few teams actually and one of the teams, I had the team manager over at my house in North Carolina, and we sat down. There was an offer on the table to go race MXGP. It just didn’t seem like the right time, but I’ve definitely thought about it”, Barcia told Jason Weigandt from RacerX.

On whether or not it’s likely to happen in the future, Barcia isn’t as sure as he once was because he knows to be a real contender he’d need two or three years to make the progress needed. The American also says he doesn’t want to just make up the numbers so he’d probably want a factory ride.

“At this point in my career, I don’t know if I’ll ever go race the MXGP now. Back in the day I really thought I was going to do it. Would I love to do it? Yeah. I think to be a real contender though you would have to be on a team for at least two or three years and kind of build into it and work up to being in the hunt. It would be gnarly. I don’t want to just go over there and fill a spot. I think I have a lot more unfinished business here in America with supercross and motocross. But I’ve definitely thought about it a lot. It was almost a thing at one point”.

Barcia has plans to move to England with his wife when he finishes his racing career – perhaps we’ll see him race a British Championship some day for fun!

” I love going over there and racing. I love Europe in general. When I’m done racing, my wife and I are for sure going to move to the UK”, Barcia added.

To read the full interview which is well worth a read and the American also reveals he thinks he had COVID-19, click here.

Pic: Yamaha