Miguel Oliveira left KTM at the end of 2022 and embraced a new challenge with Aprilia in 2023 but the truth is that he may be being considered for a new team in 2024, with Repsol Honda seeing the Portuguese as a potential replacement for Marc Márquez, who is believed to be leaving the Japanese giant.
The news is reported by the international press at the same time that rumors about Marc Márquez’s future continue to be very much alive, especially now and more than ever after Gigi Dall’Igna recently said that the rider has already decided to leave Honda to embrace a new project with Ducati.
The Portuguese will thus be on a shortlist of riders with potential to strengthen Honda, which will also include Pedro Acosta, a rider who is guaranteed to move up to MotoGP with GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 – in place of Augusto Fernández, it seems, as the latest news points to a duo in Hervé Poncharal’s structure that includes Pol Espargaró and Pedro Acosta.
According to SPEEDWEEK.com, Honda is reportedly ‘contacting all MotoGP riders at the moment’, seeming somewhat “desperate”, and sees riders linked to Aprilia as potential candidates since, as DAZN reports, the manufacturer has also reportedly sounded out Maverick Viñales.
Johann Zarco, it is worth noting, has already been confirmed as a rider for LCR Honda, and it seems highly unlikely that Iker Lecuona will take Márquez’s place, despite having a contract with the factory Honda team, for which he rides in the World Superbike Championship and has already been used this year on several occasions to substitute for riders in MotoGP.
En regardant le paysage actuel, il est à noter qu’Oliveira a déjà été mentionné pour piloter pour LCR Honda à la fin de 2022, malgré sa capacité largement reconnue à développer des motos, même si le #88 a un contrat direct avec Aprilia jusqu’à la fin de 2024.
