It was a big week for news in the MotoGP world, so much so that it deserved a wholly separate article all to itself. From silly season updates to race cancellations and a big blow to Honda’s championship hopes for this season, this is everything you need to know from last week’s MotoGP news.
Aprilia lock in Espargaro and Vinales
First up, silly season has had another set of pieces fall into place. Scheduling an announcement for the eve of the race weekend, Aprilia have announced that they will retain current factory pairing of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales for another two seasons, taking both contracts to the end of 2024.
The Aprilia package has been developed by Aleix for more than five years now, and having now reached its most competitive form yet the Spaniard has been reaping the rewards. Espargaro sits second in the championship, a mere eight points behind leader Quartararo, and has finished on the podium in every race since we reached the European leg of the season in Portimao.
For Aleix, the reason the contract wasn’t signed sooner appears to simply be that Aprilia weren’t offering him enough. Given his sheer consistency and form over the course of this season, the elder Espargaro brother believed his paycheck should reflect all that he brings to the manufacturer. Whatever agreement they have finally settled on, it is likely a stronger agreement than what he was seeing previously.
In the case of Vinales, there were some questions raised as to why he was selected over some of the juicy targets on the open market right now, particularly Alex Rins. The truth is, Vinales is one of the most talented riders in the MotoGP grid, and simply requires time and patience to find his ideal setup. Aprilia racing CEO Massimo Rivola was complimentary of Vinales’ technical knowledge, and fully believes that their investment in the former Moto3 champion will pay off eventually.
This will be a relief for Vinales. Having a two year contract in his pocket will allow him to focus on working and improving on himself in this year’s championship, and aim to get closer to the form his teammate is revelling in at the moment. If he can find some of the stellar ability he previously had on board a Yamaha, then we could easily see two Aprilia’s fighting for the title in 2023.
RNF to Aprilia
Or four, as the case may be. Following on from the initial announcement, we had to wait less than 24 hours before the next Aprilia-related news drop. This one was perhaps more of a surprise to some, though the whisperings have been around since earlier this season: the WithU RNF Racing team will be leaving Yamaha at the end of this year to become an Aprilia satellite squad. Further information dug up by journalists confirmed they will compete on 2022 bikes from next year, in what is hoped to be a long-term relationship for both the team and the manufacturer.
As I mentioned, this news wasn’t exactly the biggest shock. RNF have been sniffing around other manufacturers since the beginning of the season, unhappy with the package they received from Yamaha and struggling for results. Aprilia has also been looking for a satellite partnership for quite a while; it’s no secret that more bikes on the grid reaps benefits in data collection and rider contracts, and Aprilia have felt for some time that their package is competitive enough to warrant the extra investment. In many ways, it’s a match made in heaven.
Both sides appear happy and confident that the relationship will last for a long time. RNF have the goal of being a junior team, one that promotes young talent and offers opportunities to rookies and younger riders, and that aligns perfectly with how Aprilia want to operate their factory for the foreseeable future. That said, there’s a lot of strong riders on the market at present, and both Aprilia and RNF would be foolish to ignore options such as Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira for next season. Time will tell on that front.
The KymiRing remains absent
Talking of things we’ll have to wait until the future to see, there’s been an alteration to the calendar for the 2022 season. Namely, the Finland grand prix at the newly designed KymiRing has been cancelled, with the first race now scheduled for 2023. In their official statement, Dorna and the FIM mentioned costing issues and the political situation in the region as the main reasons for the late cancellation, given the race was supposed to happen in July.
There’s a more glaring issue that they appear to have avoided mentioning, however, and one need only perform a quick google image search to find it. The KymiRing is simply not ready to host a MotoGP race. The paddock and grandstand areas do not appear to be finished with construction, and overhead shots reveal a distinct lack of places to get in and out of the race track. For a race that was supposed to be held a smidge under two months from now, this was never going to be ready in time
There’s definitely some truth to what the FIM said, however. The situation in Eastern Europe with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is definitely straining local economies, and it was likely this exact reason that slowed construction on the track. Additionally, this could be a good thing for the track overall, as it would offer additional opportunities for riders and teams to test at the KymiRing before we have a race weekend on site sometime next year. Overall, it seems like a sound choice by all involved parties, and potentially a saving grace on the poor ground workers trying to manifest an entire pitlane complex before MotoGP arrives.
Two great Italians remembered
Coming back to the Mugello weekend itself, there were two celebrations of Italian legends held at the circuit over the course of the weekend. The first was the induction of Max Biaggi into the MotoGP Legends list, our equivalent of a hall of fame. Biaggi was a four times 250cc champion in the 90’s, known by many as The Emperor, and was quite the character both on and off the field. He was also one of the few riders to successfully make the leap from grand prix racing to superbikes, winning several world titles in the WSBK series in the late 2000’s.
The second was a more surprising one. Valentino Rossi attended his first Mugello weekend where he wasn’t competing in over two decades, and to celebrate the occasion MotoGP announced the official retirement of his number. No future riders will ever race under the number 46 again, as tribute to the career he made and the ways he changed the sport in his time. It was an event many local fans turned up to witness.
Two very different ways to celebrate a legend of the sport indeed. This may come off as somewhat controversial, but I’m not a huge fan of retiring racing numbers, particularly when the riders famous for using them are still alive, and I’m much more a fan of the legends list as a concept. MotoGP has a long, long history – world championship racing has been kicking around since 1949 – and we do need some longstanding ways to remember the riders that greatly impacted and changed the sport, but a heroes list feels a lot more impactful than culling the available racing numbers.
The thing about racing numbers is no-one owns them. You need only look at the riders currently in MotoGP: Maverick Vinales has raced under two numbers since joining the class; Jorge Martin’s preferred number is 88, but was forced to change because the number was taken by Miguel Oliveira, who in turn was eyeing off the 44 taken by Pol Espargaro. When a rider makes a number famous in their career, that number will carry the weight of their success in all future riders who use it. If a rider were to use Valentino’s number in future years, it wouldn’t take away from his achievements, but rather but pressure on the new rider’s results to emulate that of the Italian legend.
It’s a conversation that will likely rear it’s ugly head a few more times in the future, but for now we can rest easy in the knowledge that people’s #46 memorabilia will lose all meaning and usefulness in around ten years when no-one has used it since the end of 2021.
Marc Marquez, gone once more
Finally, there was an exceptional press conference held by Marc Marquez and Alberto Puig on Saturday afternoon, and unlike the one held by Aprilia to announce the re-signing of their current riders this one actually felt exceptional. Marc Marquez will undergo surgery on his shoulder for the fourth time since his crash in 2020, and will likely sit out the majority of the remainder of this season as he recovers and recuperates.
This is a bitter blow to Honda’s dreams of a better season than 2021. Without their star rider in play, their lineup takes a major hit. Pol Espargaro continues to struggle with his adaptation to the new bike, Taka Nakagami hasn’t been close to a podium this season, and Alex Marquez looks so lost he could fall back into Moto2. Without Marc, Honda are set to have a woeful end to their 2022 campaign, and will surely fall miles short in the constructors championship come November.
That said, this has to be the right call. Marc has been suffering from this arm problem for quite some time, and hasn’t looked happy or comfortable on the bike since the season got underway in Qatar. He’s been taking reasonable results, a bundle of top sixes whenever he manages to see the chequered flag, but for a rider with the stature of Marc that just won’t cut it. Marquez believes he has a ninth championship in him, and will take whatever route necessary to attempt that feat. If taking time away for another surgery and a lengthy layoff is the only way to make that happen, then he will take it.
Could Marquez win a ninth title next year? It’s certainly possible, especially if he can return in time for pre-season testing at the end of this year in Valencia. The more time he gets on board the 2023-spec Honda before lights go out next March, the better he will feel about his chances, and the whole motorsport world will be waiting with bated breath to see if he can take down the young contenders that have risen up largely in his absence. Whatever happens, he will be sorely missed for the interim period of months ahead of us.
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