Official: Aprilia re-signs Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales

The contract extensions were officially announced on the eve of the factory’s home Italian MotoGP at Mugello and means Aprilia is now the first team to complete its full rider line-up for 2023.

Espargaro made history with Aprilia’s first ever premier-class win in Argentina this year and arrives at round eight a close second in the world championship.

Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said: “I’m very happy to announce Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales will continue with Aprilia for the next two years.

"'The Captain' [Aleix] is part of our history for a long time and I don't have any kind of doubt that he brought us where we are now and he will keep pushing even more with his enthusiasm that he brings to the team.

"And I'm very happy to continue with Maverick. I fully trust in his talent and I'm sure that he will show to everybody, not just to us, what is his real potential.

"I didn't even consider [other riders] because I think continuity and consistency is performance. Stability means performance. And we are working not just with riders but also with human beings, with guys that are part of - well [Espargaro] managed to build a family with us and we see Maverick quite inside our family."

Despite earlier talk of difficult negotiations, Espargaro will now remain with Aprilia for eight seasons, having helped bring the RS-GP project from the back to the front of the grid.

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"I don't think it took so much time, really," Rivola said of the Espargaro negotiations. "I think that when you want to reach something, you can't wait to do it and to tell to everybody. Especially for someone like Aleix that is always full throttle, even in his way of thinking and doing things, and that is something that we love actually.

"We are also a bit like that. Maybe this is the reason why we matched together so well. But if I think that this is the eighth race and we already signed the two riders for the next two years… I think we are very much in time. I think that Aleix would never leave us, really. Because his blood is black, I think in a way. And I think we couldn't do without him."

After finally breaking Aprilia's long-held MotoGP best of sixth place with a podium at Silverstone 2021, Espargaro has gone on to take more rostrums (four) than any other rider so far this year.

"I’m very happy," Espargaro said. "We did a good job in the last six years. It’ll be eight years by the end of 2024. It’s extremely good on the human and technical side to stay here. Now I can be even more focused and calm. We have a big opportunity ahead of us this year."

The 32-year-old added: "When I signed with Aprilia, I said to myself: ‘Everybody is saying that you are finished, you leave Suzuki and you go to Aprilia which is not a competitive bike. It's the end of your career’. And I said to myself: ‘Now you're going to see if it's the end of my career or not’.

"It really took more time than I expected! But finally we are showing everybody that the potential was there. This year we are fighting, I'm on the top and I'm very happy.

"Life can change very quick. One year and a half ago when you saw Maverick leaving from Yamaha in Austria everybody was maybe thinking it’s his end. He's leaving from Yamaha, the bike [which won] the title, for Aprilia. And look this year. Aprilia arrives at Mugello leading the teams’ championship. Fighting for the title. Fabio said that he cannot overtake me at Le Mans.

"So you have to believe always and this is what we are doing and the continuity of Maverick, myself, I hope also Savadori in the role of the test team. It's going to be the key to keep fighting for our dreams."

With 98 points from seven rounds, Espargaro has already eclipsed his full-season points tally at Aprilia between 2017-2020 and is on course to sail past his 2021 total (120 points, eighth overall) by the midway stage of this season.

While Espargaro's stunning results meant it would have been a shock if he hadn't reached a new agreement with Aprilia, Vinales' future seemed less clear and - with so many other riders yet to sign - many believed Aprilia might wait before deciding on the second seat.

Instead they have shown their faith in Vinales, who made his Aprilia MotoGP race debut in September last year, following a shock mid-season split from Yamaha.

A race winner on both the Suzuki GSX-RR (1) and M1 (8), Vinales has a best result of seventh so far on the RS-GP, but feels he has the pace to achieve much more if he can qualify higher on the grid.

"I'm very happy to continue with the progress and work here," said Vinales. "It is a boost of confidence for my career to be inside of a such a high level factory that is Aprilia and together we are building up a strong team.

"With Aprilia we are working very close and we are working for our objective, to be on the podium and [get] the victories that I think Aprilia deserve.

"As soon as I entered the Aprilia family I felt super good. I felt this it was my place, to continue to develop my potential and my riding style. So when I received the [contract] news, I was very happy, very proud and it gives me a lot of motivation to continue and to see what I'm able to do with all the Aprilia factory."

Espargaro’s five podium finishes since Silverstone last season means Aprilia will join the other MotoGP manufacturers in competing without any technical concessions from 2023.

Aprilia Racing technical director Romano Albesiano said: “It’s crucial to keep the same riders. Changing would have been a difficult challenge. I’m very happy and proud to keep working with Aleix, it’s been a long story, and I’m pretty sure with Maverick we will get to the same level.

"Aleix always kept believing in this project. More than everybody I would say, and he kept pushing. Sometimes he pushed in some hard way, but he was right. And it's a pleasure to see him from the first time he jumped on the bike with the same determination, with the same strength and the speed - because don't forget that he's been placed alongside many riders [here] and he’s always been faster. I think this is a very important point.

"Having Maverick Vinales in our team would have been a kind of dream a few years ago. Now it’s a reality and I'm really excited. He's a fantastic person, he's an enthusiast, he is bringing a lot of technical opinions and information as well that is maybe different from what Aleix is bringing. But it's very important for us to widen the range of our motorcycle, to be fast with more than one rider, of course."

Vinales and Espargaro join only Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), Franco Morbidelli (Monster Yamaha), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) in having an official place on next year’s MotoGP grid.

But with Suzuki leaving MotoGP, available factory team seats are now limited to just one place each at Repsol Honda, Ducati Lenovo, Monster Yamaha and Red Bull KTM, with reigning champion Fabio Quartararo's new Yamaha deal increasingly seen as a formailty.

Could Aprilia have a satellite MotoGP team in 2023?

Aprilia’s excellent form has prompted interest from other teams for a long-awaited satellite RS-GP project.

"The answer will be very soon, if it's a yes or a no, because the deadline we gave is around this time," Rivola said.

"This [satellite team] is something that I'm pushing for and Aleix is pushing me to do it. But if it's not possible, we’ll continue as we did so far, and we didn't do too badly.

"It is not something we have to do, but it's an opportunity for our company to grow - the bike, the riders, the engineers. But to make it properly we need to have a yes or no in very few days."

Espargaro said: "[A satellite team] is Massimo’s job and I will never say what he has to do. The only thing I’ve said is that I really would love it. I can’t really explain why. Because it will not change a lot my life. But to see more RS-GPs on track will be unbelievable for me.

"It's like 'my' bike, so to see more bikes on another team, will be like a dream. The same exactly for Romano I think and for everybody in Aprilia.

"You just have to look back not so long ago when nobody wanted to ride our bike. Now a lot of talented riders, a lot of teams are looking at our bikes. So we are very proud."

On paper, RNF, which currently has a one-year deal with Yamaha, is the only exisiting satellite team that could switch to Aprilia machinery next season.