Trackhouse Racing has entered the MotoGP World Championship this year, being the first American team in a long time. Its current two riders are Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández, whose contracts expire at the end of 2024. The team may consider an American rider, and at the moment the most likely candidate to join is Joe Roberts.
The Moto2 rider, who was present at the team’s official presentation earlier this year, admitted to being interested in a potential available seat: ‘If the opportunity comes, why not? It would be fantastic, of course. But I have to focus simply on this championship at the moment,’ he said, quoted on Crash.net.
In fact, Roberts was close to moving up to the premier class in 2021 when he turned down an offer from… Aprilia, which supplies the bikes to Trackhouse Racing. At the time, the RS-GP was far from being the competitive bike it is now, while the rider felt he didn’t have the necessary experience to make the leap.
Now 26 years old and in his seventh full season in Moto2, Roberts is already a rider with many kilometers in the world championships. He is currently second in Moto2 after the first two rounds of the season – where he has already achieved a podium finish.
One thing is for sure, for the American to move up to MotoGP with Trackhouse Racing, at least Oliveira or Fernández could lose their spot… or move up to the official Aprilia team, where Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales are also at the end of their contracts. However, Fabio Quartararo is seen as a strong candidate for a possible spot if he does not renew with Yamaha.
