Aprilia "Close To The Top"
Says Espargaro
A
leix Espargaro has
called out many of
the riders who turned
down a chance to race
the Aprilia RS-GP in
MotoGP for the 2021
season, saying the
vastly improved machine
represents a "big op-
portunity" to fight at the
front of MotoGP.
Aprilia put offers out
to Andrea Dovizioso and
Cal Crutchlow and lead-
ing names from Moto2
such as Marco Bezzec-
chi, Joe Roberts and
Fabio Di Giannantonio,
all of whom declined the
ride to partner Espar-
garo. Dovizioso has
completed a number
of closed-door tests with Aprilia
since parting from Ducati but
looks set to miss out on the ride
for 2022, as Maverick Vinales is
likely to sign for the Italian manu-
facturer following his split from
Yamaha.
"I said many times I felt very
bad when Massimo told me that
next year, we will not have two
more bikes on track," Espargaro
told motorsport.com. "Also,
when some Moto2 riders were
saying they didn't want to join us,
I was very angry.
"I love Aprilia, I love this proj-
ect, it feels like mine, and I want
to prove to them that they were
wrong.
"These riders in Moto2 who
did not want to come, I think they
will not be happy in the future
because they lost a big opportu-
nity, and I hope that next year my
teammate will be a very strong
rider because we deserve it
because we work very hard. We
are not far from the top brands in
the world."
Espargaro has been a regu-
lar in Q2 in 2021 but has so far
failed to capture Aprilia's first
four-stroke podium in MotoGP.
Current teammate Lorenzo
Savadori was drafted in late in
the preseason to take the place
of fill-in rider Bradley Smith and
Andrea Iannone, whose career
was essentially curtailed fol-
lowing a positive drug test and
subsequent four-year ban.
Vinales has been strongly
linked to the second seat at
Aprilia for 2022 as Aprilia splits
from Team Gresini to become a
fully-fledged factory team in its
own right.
CN
IN
THE
WIND
P48
There's no doubt Aprilia has been
the big improver in 2021, but the
project needs a second top rider to
take it to the next level.
