RiderTua.com – Aprilia ‘s priority is to make a better bike, then they will think about their rider market… Because Aprilia believes they need a better bike to get a more relevant position in the MotoGP rider market in 2025. With the best bike, automatically the best rider will be ‘Will you stop by’…
In recent seasons, Aprilia has slowly moved up the rankings in the MotoGP standings and has become an attractive target for riders considering that almost the entire starting grid will reach the end of their two-year contracts at the end of 2024. Fabio Quartararo’s name has been linked with Aprilia in recent weeks due to his continued frustration continues at Yamaha. The 2021 world champion, among other things, admitted that last week he had spoken with several manufacturers to decide what to do next season.
Aprilia ‘s priority is to make a better bike, then think about the rider market
However, Aprilia believes it needs to make further developments on the RS-GP to attract one of the racing stars in the paddock, while openly admitting that it is monitoring developments in the rider market to understand what steps to take ahead of 2025.
When asked if there had been any contact with Quartararo, Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said.. “First of all, we are happy with our four riders, but honestly we can’t sleep well. So we have to check the market situation and we will (look around) rider market). The priority is to have a better bike, so we will be stronger in the market.”
Quartararo revealed in Portugal that he would decide on his MotoGP future quite quickly, saying it would not take months to make a decision on whether to stay with Yamaha or sign with another manufacturer.
However, Rivola emphasized that Aprilia would not rush into determining the line-up of riders for the factory team and Trackhouse, underlining that the focus was on improving the bike’s performance. “I think we will take our time… We are not in a rush. I’m not obsessed with choosing a rider, I’m more obsessed with having a better bike,” he said.
The riders Aprilia currently relies on include factory riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales as well as Trackhouse Racing riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, except for the latter who is currently riding a 2024-spec RS-GP. Of the quartet, Fernandez is the most likely to lose his seat based on his current performance, although in future races he will receive an update to this year’s bike (but with a 2023 engine).
Espargaro is one of the pillars of Aprilia’s MotoGP project and is likely to get a contract extension if he decides to continue his career, while Vinales’ chances of staying are increased by his win at Portimao in the Sprint race.
