MotoGP
Maverick Vinales set for KTM MotoGP switch
Maverick Vinales is set to leave Aprilia at the end of the 2024 MotoGP season and join KTM’s stable next year, Motorsport.com can reveal.
Oriol Puigdemont
Edited: Jun 12, 2024, 8:54 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Spaniard will bring the curtain down to his three-year stint with Aprilia, which has so far yielded one grand prix victory in Austin this year and a total of seven podium finishes.
He will join the structure currently managed in tandem by Tech3 and KTM’s parent company Pierer Mobility group, the team which currently competes under the GasGas banner.
He will be partnered at Tech3 by five-time grand prix winner Enea Bastianini, whose place in the factory Ducati team will be taken over by Marc Marquez next season.
As announced previously, Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta will race in the factory team, although KTM intends to put four identical bikes on track this year between its two teams.
With Vinales now poised to join KTM, it means Aprilia will lose both its current factory riders, with Aleix Espargaro having already announced his decision to retire from MotoGP at the end of the year. Motorsport.com understands he will move to Honda in a test rider role next year.
Initially, Vinales’ intention was to explore the possibility of extending his contract with Aprilia, which handed him a reprieve in 2021 following his acrimonious split from Yamaha. However, the Noale-based brand preferred to wait for Espargaro to decide his future, before sitting down with Vinales to negotiate a contract.
Things took a turn on Monday after the Italian Grand Prix when Aprilia announced it had signed Jorge Martin from Pramac, at great expense, after Ducati chose Marquez as Francesco Bagnaia’s team-mate for 2025-26.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: MotoGP
It remains to be seen who will not occupy the second factory RS-GP at Aprilia, although current VR46 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio are seen as the most likely candidates.
Born in 1995, Vinales debuted in the World Championship in 125cc in 2011 and won the Moto3 title two years later, achieving up to 12 victories in his three years in the minor class. Entry-level category.
After a single season in Moto2 in 2014 which yielded four victories and a best finish of third in the standings, he made the leap to top category as an official Suzuki factory rider in 2015.
He went on to record his maiden MotoGP win for Suzuki in 2016 before moving over to Yamaha.
In his debut with the Iwata marque, replacing Jorge Lorenzo and as Valentino Rossi's team-mate, Viñales won his first two races, in Qatar and Argentina, and the fifth, in France.
Between 2018 and 2021 he added five more race wins to his tally, although it wasn’t enough to fight for the title.
In mid-2022 he decided to leave Yamaha, before being dropped following an unpleasant incident in Austria, which then led to his switch to Aprilia.
In 2025, and in his eleventh season in the premier class, Vinales will compete for a fourth different manufacturer.
Read Also:
MotoGPWhy a Pramac/Yamaha MotoGP union is best for all parties
MotoGPMiller "not keen" on signing new MotoGP contract amid current lacklustre results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why a Pramac/Yamaha MotoGP union is best for all parties
Next article Vinales makes Tech3 KTM MotoGP switch alongside Bastianini for 2025
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Oriol Puigdemont
Inside Jorge Martin’s recovery plan to get fit for Sepang MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
Inside Jorge Martin’s recovery plan to get fit for Sepang MotoGP
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Australian GP
Jorge Martin planning MotoGP return at Malaysian GP
More from
Maverick Viñales
Maverick Vinales: “If I stay at home, I don’t get paid”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Australian GP
Maverick Vinales: “If I stay at home, I don’t get paid”
Maverick Vinales “thinking every night” about future: “I haven’t given up yet”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Japanese GP
Maverick Vinales “thinking every night” about future: “I haven’t given up yet”
Maverick Vinales: “I don't understand what KTM wants from me”
MotoGP
MotoGP
Japanese GP
Maverick Vinales: “I don't understand what KTM wants from me”
More from
Aprilia Racing Team
Jorge Martin hopeful of racing in Malaysia after "not complete" fracture diagnosis
MotoGP
MotoGP
Malaysian GP
2 h
Jorge Martin hopeful of racing in Malaysia after "not complete" fracture diagnosis
Ducati: Aprilia got “unlucky” in Australian GP, can win every race from now
MotoGP
MotoGP
Australian GP
23 h
Ducati: Aprilia got “unlucky” in Australian GP, can win every race from now
Latest news
“I couldn’t disappear” – Oliver Bearman rues “crazy” penalty for Pierre Gasly clash
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
18 min
“I couldn’t disappear” – Oliver Bearman rues “crazy” penalty for Pierre Gasly clash
Joan Mir returns without revealing illness that kept him out for 44 days: "It hasn't been an easy period"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
51 min
Joan Mir returns without revealing illness that kept him out for 44 days: "It hasn't been an easy period"
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe