Whether Aleix Espargaro will continue to ride MotoGP races for Aprilia beyond his current contract depends on something shortly before the start of the 2024 season
It is obvious that Aleix Espargaro is closer to the end of his MotoGP career than the beginning. The 2024 MotoGP season, which starts next weekend (March 9/10) in Qatar, will be the veteran from Spain’s 15th overall and his eighth in the service of Aprilia.
Currently, Espargaro – just like teammate Maverick Vinales – is under contract until the end of 2024. Does Espargaro see a contract extension coming for himself? “The races will have to decide that for me,” he told MotoGP.com a few days ago at the Aprilia Team Presentation 2024.
What Espargaro is referring to is not so much a possible change of team for 2025, but the fact that, at 34 years old and with 237 Grand Prix starts in the premier class, he is the oldest of the current regular riders. He took over the top spot in both rankings when Andrea Dovizioso retired from the MotoGP stage in September 2021.
Espargaro’s first full MotoGP season was in 2010 – back then for Pramac-Ducati, when the team was nowhere near as competitive as it is today. Aprilia was also nowhere near as competitive in Espargaro’s first season with the team (2017) as it is today
Espargaro can imagine another contract with the factory team from Noale. However, he makes this dependent on how the first phase of the 2024 season goes for him: “The plan is to ride as quickly as possible. The races will show whether I am still fast enough and whether I am still the number 1 rider, as I have been in my seven years with Aprilia so far.”
“If that’s the case,” said Aprilia’s only MotoGP winner to date, “then I might decide to extend my contract. It’s in my hands. Hopefully we get off to a good start and can compete for victories in the first races of the season.”