On Monday evening, it was announced that Jorge Martin will leave Ducati after four seasons and join Aprilia in 2025. He will replace Aleix Espargaro, who is retiring, on a multi-year deal.
This decision followed a series of events at Mugello last week. Initially, Ducati asked Martin to wait while they tried to keep him and Marc Marquez on their team for 2025. But Martin didn’t agree to wait, so Ducati withdrew their offer for him to join the factory team.
After this, Martin and his agent decided to accept one of the offers they had. They chose to move to Aprilia and signed a two-year contract. The deal was finalized on Monday, and Aprilia announced it in a video where Espargaro welcomed Martin to the team.
Later, Rivola, the head of Aprilia’s MotoGP team, spoke to the media. He expressed his happiness about signing Martin, calling him a “top rider” in MotoGP. Rivola also addressed the speculation that Martin’s decision to join Aprilia was made out of anger towards Ducati.
Rivola said, “This is a question we should ask Jorge. I can only say that I am very happy that he has taken it, and if he is angry it is possible that he will be a tenth faster next year.”
He explained that Aprilia had been interested in Martin since Espargaro announced his retirement at the Spanish Grand Prix. Rivola revealed that Aprilia started working on recruiting Martin after learning about Espargaro’s decision.
Regarding Maverick Vinales, whose contract with Aprilia expires this season, Rivola said that having both Vinales and Martin on the team would be ideal. However, he acknowledged that it’s uncertain whether Vinales will stay or if Aprilia will look for other options in the rider market.
Rivola concluded by saying that Aprilia’s offer to Martin might not have been the highest, but the quality of the team and the work they are doing convinced him to join.
