With Jorge Martín confirmed, Aprilia has only one spot in MotoGP for 2025. Aleix Espargaró will retire at the end of the year, so the question is around Maverick Viñales – a rider the team wants to keep, but with whom they have not yet signed a contract renewal that expires after this season.
Asked whether the Noale manufacturer is still in the market or just focused on renewing Viñales, Aprilia Racing’s CEO, Massimo Rivola, replied: ‘It’s a very good question. From my point of view, Maverick is a done deal. To be honest, I clearly made a mistake, I didn’t have time and that was to tell him that this was going to happen. But the priority was really to close this. I don’t know. For me, as I have always said, Maverick was the one who helped the team in a very drastic way to take a step forward. I think Maverick now has a level that is the reference for the other Aprilia riders, so clearly for us it would be the best pair of riders to have Maverick and Jorge‘.
Regarding other options that were available, such as Enea Bastianini and Marc Márquez, the Italian stated: ‘I also asked Marc what the situation was, I spoke with Enea’s manager. I checked the rider market situation and then I think I chose the best possible solution. But time will tell us whether it is the best possible choice or not‘.
That said, Rivola emphasized that the priority option is Viñales: ‘I believe the priority is to understand what Maverick wants to do with us, and then if Maverick wants to stay I am the happiest person and there is no room for Enea. But it is true that Enea is one of the riders I have been trying to bring here for a long time. But let’s see, it’s difficult to predict now. I believe that all of you, in my place, would have done the same‘.
