Aprilia: “Jorge Martin signed with us at 5:30pm today”
Massimo Rivola: "We signed at 5:30pm and we announced at 6pm. So it was quite a fast decision and move for us.”
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola has revealed that MotoGP title leader Jorge Martin signed for the factory just 30 minutes before the surprise news was made public.
While Martin had previously been linked with the seat, rumours on the eve of the Mugello weekend suggested the Spaniard had won the duel with Marc Marquez to become Francesco Bagnaia factory Ducati team-mate in 2025.
But with Marquez then flatly rejecting the option of replacing Martin at Pramac, Ducati appears to have performed a dramatic U-turn and picked the eight-time world champion to join Bagnaia instead.
Ducati’s loss became Aprilia’s gain, with a deal swiftly agreed for Martin to replace good friend Aleix Espargaro, who recently confirmed his retirement at the end of the 2024 season.
“Obviously I'm super happy to have him on board,” Rivola told Dorna’s Jack Gorst.
“I cannot talk about all the details, but I can tell you that it was a quite a ‘racing’ deal, very fast, from last night to today. Actually, we signed at 5:30pm and we announced at 6pm. So it was quite a fast decision and move for us.”
“Since Aleix decided to retire… I started to check the rider market in the paddock and many managers knocked on my door actually and I think we got the best possible solution.”
Rivola confirmed that Espargaro’s current Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales is yet to decide his future, but hopes he will remain and form a ‘super couple’ with Martin.
“Let's see if [Maverick] is happy to stay with us. We'll try to do it. If it's not, we will again go and see what the market offers. But obviously thinking about a super couple like Maverick and Jorge would be amazing,” Rivola said.
Rivola added that although “Aleix and Jorge are sort of brothers” he doesn’t think the arrival of the younger Spaniard will prompt Espargaro to remain as an Aprilia test rider rather than, as rumoured, join development duties at Honda.
Aprilia also has two other RS-GP seats at the satellite Trackhouse team.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
