Aleix Espargaro: “This will be an outstanding year for Aprilia”

Ever since joining Aprilia in 2017, Aleix Espargaro has been the lead RS-GP rider in the world championship standings, overcoming the likes of Scott Redding, Andrea Iannone and - for the past two seasons - Suzuki and Yamaha race winner Maverick Vinales.

Along the way Espargaro has taken the RS-GP its first MotoGP podium, GP victories (3) and the world championship lead (2022).

This season again started with Espargaro leading the Aprilia challenge in Qatar, with a Sprint podium before surprise grip issues neutured an expected victory challenge in the grand prix.

But momentum has swung spectacularly in favour of Vinales ever since, the younger Spaniard winning all three races he has finished: The Portimao Sprint, then a perfect COTA double this weekend.

The only blip came with a gearbox issue in the Portimao GP, despite which Vinales was still on course for a safe podium until being left drive-less on the final lap.

Espargaro Texan weekend, like Portimao, was more subdued, with a fifth place in the Sprint and seventh in the grand prix. After which he went straight to parc ferme to hug his victorious team-mate and declared 2024 will be an ‘outstanding’ year for the Noale factory:

"The bike works well and Maverick demonstrated that. I’m happy for him and for Aprilia – we deserved this. I think that this will be an outstanding year for Aprilia and we will certainly have fun."

Vinales’ charge has taken him to third in the early world championship standings, with Espargaro currently seventh. 

COTA is one of Espargaro’s worst circuits, but his Sunday race was made much harder after early contact saw him drop from seventh to 14th.

"With my race pace, I would have been able to stay in the top five but, unfortunately, the contact at the start relegated me all the way back to 1th place,” Espargaro said.

“Despite not being competitive enough, I’m still satisfied with the result.”