Image: Russell Colvin.

Aprilia Racing has renewed the contract of Aleix Espargaro for the 2021 and 2022 MotoGP World Championship seasons, the Spaniard to remain aboard the factory RS-GP.

Espargaro has ridden for Aprilia since 2017 and has played a key part in the Italian manufacturer’s grand prix project, leading to the development of their latest model.

The latest prototype showed significant and promising signs of competitiveness in the winter tests before the 2020 season was disrupted, so much that they contributed to Espargaro’s decision.

“I am happy about this confirmation,” Espargaro said. “The human aspect is extremely important for me and, in four seasons, Aprilia has become my second family, so with this contract, which is certainly the most important of my career, they demonstrated that I am at the centre of this project.

“On a technical level, the growth in recent months convinced me, with the arrival of many reinforcements and the début of the 2020 RS-GP, which did so well in the tests. I feel like we need to finish the job we started over the winter. I can’t wait to get back together with my entire team and race with the new bike, to take this project where it deserves to be.”

Astride the RS-GP since the 2017 season, Espargaro has weathered various phases of the Aprilia MotoGP project, from the great and promising growth in the first season to the difficulties of 2018, all the way to the technical revolution of 2019 which led to the birth of the new 2020 RS-GP