Aleix “very proud”: “I convinced Maverick to come to Aprilia, winning with ‘my’ bike unbelievable”

When Aprilia began searching for a permanent replacement for Andrea Iannone, after the Italian’s anti-doping ban, among those to turn down the factory MotoGP chance were three young riders in Moto2.

Aprilia thus recalled its test rider Lorenzo Savadori to join Aleix Espargaro for 2021.

But after taking the RS-GP’s first victory the following season, Espargaro - leader of the project since arriving in 2017 - admitted such rejections had been a source of motivation.

“I remember when I finished at Suzuki [in 2016] and Aprilia called me,” Espargaro said. “I was obviously not at the top of their list, but the fast riders didn’t want to go there because nobody believed in the project.

“[A few years ago] I also tried to convince some young Moto2 riders to come, but they said, ‘I prefer to wait for another bike…’ This made me hungrier and gave me extra motivation; ‘okay, you will remember this day when you said no to Aprilia’.”

It was against that backdrop that Espargaro later personally ‘pushed’ and ‘convinced’ former Suzuki team-mate and nine-time MotoGP race Maverick Vinales, who had become disillusioned at Yamaha, to make the shock switch to Aprilia.

Espargaro then took the RS-GP’s long-awaited first podium not long after the Vinales deal was announced, in mid-2021.

The pair have since raised Aprilia to new heights, but until COTA Espargaro remained the factory’s only premier-class grand prix winner, courtesy of victories at Termas 2022 (when he also led the world championship), then Silverstone and Catalunya in 2023.

“I’m very happy for everybody in Aprilia. I’m very happy for Mav, for his first [Aprilia] victory. The atmosphere in the garage is crazy because the bike is extremely fast at every circuit,” said Espargaro, who went straight to parc ferme to congratulate his team-mate after the COTA GP victory.

Told that Vinales had publicly thanked Espargaro for bringing him to the Aprilia project and helping develop the RS-GP into a race-winning machine, Espargaro responded:

“I really appreciate it. Maverick is here in Aprilia because I pushed him to come. I convinced him. I felt like it was not the Aprilia project, but my project. My bike.

“So to see another rider winning with my bike, it's unbelievable! I'm extremely happy from the bottom of my heart for him and everybody in Aprilia.

“Now it looks like the bike is growing and Maverick is able to win. So I'm very happy. I'm very proud.”

Vinales’ spectacular charge has taken him to three wins in the last four races, only interrupted by a gearbox issue in Portimao, and third in the early world championship standings.

Espargaro, among the fastest at the Qatar opener, returns to Europe seventh in the standings, but within 20 points of his team-mate.

“You need to balance things. The championship is super long. More than 20 GPs. So in the difficult days if you can finish 5th and 7th as I did this weekend [at COTA], it’s not that bad,” he said.

“I obviously want to win and when you see another bike like yours winning, you cannot be happy [with your own performance]. But I’m satisfied, it's good enough.”

Aprilia is second in the teams’ standings, 14 points behind Ducati, and third in the constructors’ behind Ducati (24 points ahead) and KTM (4 points).