Aprilia announced Jorge Martín as one of its riders in MotoGP in 2025. It was a contract closed in a short time, according to Aprilia Racing’s CEO Massimo Rivola, who gave some details about the whole process.
This afternoon, the Italian spoke to the press about the announcement of the new rider: ‘I am obviously very happy, it is a good opportunity. It is part of the team’s growth. I should start by thanking several people, but first of all our director Michele Colaninno. Nothing more to say. The championship is still very long. Fortunately, we have a little break, so we need to digest this and then come back and focus on the next race. And before that, go to Misano for our Aprilia All Stars party‘.
Conversations with other riders only started after Aleix Espargaró announced his retirement, according to Rivola: ‘As I always tell you, since Aleix decided to retire, we started talking to everyone. The strategy was very clear not to make the first move, because we didn’t want to give anyone a gift. But when we felt there was an opportunity – which was actually last night – we acted very quickly instead of talking. We reached an agreement very, very quickly – also thanks to Aleix for doing it. And here we are‘.
The CEO of Aprilia said afterwards: ‘I think timing was a factor, because we were really fast. Last night I called my director and said, “We have a chance.” And he said, “Go after it.” And I did. We had the whole team, the legal department working overnight to make this happen. I don’t know if it’s based on emotions, but I like to think that Jorge’s choice is because Aprilia has shown consistent growth over the years. In fact, we are the only ones to win races so far as an alternative to his current bike. It’s another piece of the puzzle to put together‘.
This response from the top boss of the Piaggio Group, Michele Colaninno, was not surprising to Rivola: ‘The response… my director is very hungry and we need to find very motivated and hungry riders. Actually, I’m not surprised because I’ve seen that over the past years we are growing in terms of resources and the bike is the result of that. It’s very good news. I can’t show that I’m very happy, but I am very happy‘.
As for the moment he found out about Martín’s acceptance, the team leader of the Noale manufacturer mentioned: ‘It was, let’s say, [yesterday] early in the evening, but I immediately called my director. Obviously, after Barcelona, we started thinking and talking to riders – not just Jorge – to understand what the feeling in the rider market was. And that’s it‘.
About the apparent rush to have the announcement made, Rivola clarified: ‘I think that announcing at this moment, being the first to announce, shows that we can do things quickly and we can decide quickly. So, it was just part of “let’s establish this, it’s done, and let’s focus on the next step”‘.
