The news spread quickly when it was revealed that Marc Marquez had secured the second seat at the official Ducati MotoGP team for 2025, leaving Jorge Martin disappointed. It seemed that Martin wasted no time in approaching Aprilia to sign a contract after realizing that Ducati would not give him what he wanted. An hour later, Aprilia team boss Massimo Rivola confirmed this when he spoke to the MotoGP press in the Mugello paddock. Rivola explained that Aprilia had a clear strategy of not taking the initiative, but when they saw an opportunity, they acted quickly. They were able to close a deal swiftly.
At the moment, Ducati has not officially announced Marquez’s move to the factory team and seems to have been caught off guard by Aprilia’s quick announcement. When asked about Marquez, Rivola did not mention him in his explanation of how Aprilia ended up signing the current world championship leader. Ducati’s decision to choose Marquez over Martin as Pecco Bagnaia’s teammate was not a concern for Aprilia.
Rivola only needed to know that Martin had gone to Aprilia and he seized the opportunity. He quickly got in touch with Dr. Michele Colaninno, CEO of Aprilia’s parent company, the Piaggio Group, to get approval for the necessary investment. Rivola mentioned that Colaninno is eager to find motivated and hungry riders.
Rivola acknowledged that Martin’s decision to join Aprilia may have been fueled by anger, but also highlighted that Aprilia has been the only manufacturer, besides Ducati, to win races this year. Martin did not make an emotional decision to join a struggling team.
Espargaro, who is a close friend of Martin and part of the same management group, played an important role in convincing Martin to join Aprilia, just as he did with Maverick Vinales in 2021. Rivola made it clear that their starting point is to keep Vinales as Martin’s teammate, but the decision is up to Vinales.
Rivola admitted that in the rush to finalize the deal with Martin, they forgot to inform Vinales about the news. He took full responsibility for this oversight. If Vinales leaves, Aprilia is considering Enea Bastianini, who is currently Bagnaia’s teammate. Rivola has been interested in Bastianini for a long time and hinted that he would have been a serious target for 2025 if Martin was not available.
Whether it’s Vinales, Bastianini, or someone else, the decision on who will ride alongside Martin at Aprilia in 2025 will be made later. Today was all about ensuring that the potential MotoGP world champion of 2024 will be riding for Aprilia in 2025 and dealing with the consequences afterwards. Rivola stated that anyone in his position would have done the same.
