Press Release | August 20, 2021
Aprilia Racing has confirmed that Maverick Vinales will race for them in 2022 alongside Aleix Espargaro next season. Vinales has signed an annual contract with an option for renewal.
**Update August 20, 2021: Yamaha and Maverick Viñales have mutually decided to advance their separation and end their previous 2021 agreement, effective immediately.
After the Dutch GP (June 28, 2021) it was announced that Yamaha and Maverick Viñales would bring their two-year contract for 2021-2022 to an early closure at the end of the current MotoGP season.
Following recent events at the Styrian GP and after deep consideration by both parties, the mutual decision was reached to separate with immediate effect.
It is unlikely Vinales will make his Aprilia debut at this weekend’s Silverstone round, but there is a possibility of him replacing incumbent Lorenzo Savadori from the Aragon round onwards.
The Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team will give Jake Dixon his MotoGP category debut at next weekend’s British Grand Prix (August 27-29) as a stand-in for Franco Morbidelli, who is recovering from knee surgery in June.
Dixon, who competed for many years at the front of the British Superbike Championship before switching to Moto2, will make his MotoGP race debut in front of his home fans, although it is not determined if he will fill the seat for the remainder of the season.
That moves Franco Morbidelli’s stand-in replacement Cal Crutchlow into the factory team to replace Vinales, with Dixon taking Crutchlow’s place at Petronas Yamaha.
A Silverstone replacement for Dixon, alongside Xavi Vierge in Moto2, will be announced soon.
Here is the press release from Aprilia on August 16, 2021…
It is with great pleasure that Aprilia welcomes Maverick Vinales to the Aprilia Racing factory team.
This completes the official team for the 2022 MotoGP season, with Maverick coming alongside Aleix Espargaro astride the RS-GP. The Spanish rider has signed an annual contract with an option for renewal.
The signing of Vinales is another step in the Italian team’s growth and development strategy, which comes just in the year of the transition to a factory team. Two events that testify to Aprilia’s desire to continue to grow in the top category of world motorcycling.
Born in 1995, Maverick Vinales made his debut in World Championship GP Motorcycle Racing in 2011 astride an Aprilia in the 125 category, taking four wins and five podiums, making him the best rookie of the season and finishing third overall. After another high-level season, he won the Moto3 World Title in 2013 before moving up to Moto2 the next season. Thanks to the potential demonstrated in the intermediate class, he earned a seat in MotoGP from the 2015 season with Suzuki and on Yamaha from 2017.
In the premier class, Vinales has taken nine wins, 13 pole positions and 28 podium finishes, in addition to two overall third places as his best final placement in the rider standings.
Massimo Rivola – Aprilia Racing CEO: “We are extremely happy to announce that we have signed Maverick Vinales, a very high-level rider and one of the purest talents in the premier category. Our project has now been enriched with the value that Maverick brings—a World Champion who has confirmed his talent as a top rider in MotoGP—at a time of great change, after bringing a completely revamped bike to the track and having consistently established ourselves in the group of protagonists, we are also facing a switch in status as a Factory Team now, in order to take Aprilia to success. We are honored to be able to make all of our best skills available to Vinales along with our enthusiasm and our passion. I am confident that, like Aleix, he will embrace this extremely high-potential project. The arrival of Maverick in no way distances Lorenzo Savadori from the team, as he will remain an integral part of the Aprilia Racing family.”
Click here for all the latest MotoGP news.