Aprilia currently competes with two Spanish riders in its MotoGP factory team: Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales, whose contracts expire at the end of this season. The same goes for Enea Bastianini at Ducati—a rider highly appreciated by Aprilia Racing’s CEO, Massimo Rivola.
The Executive told GPOne.com that the current Ducati rider is of interest to him, and having an Italian rider is valuable: ‘I think they know that Enea is one of those riders I like. Carlo Pernat, his manager, is well aware that it is also thanks to me that he has achieved certain results in negotiations with Ducati. Certainly, an Italian rider would be useful, whether it’s Enea or another; it’s too early to say. Maybe we will confirm our two riders, although we saw in the Africa Eco Race that winning with Italian bikes and riders has a great impact’.
However, Rivola assured that at the moment, Aprilia is satisfied with Espargaró and Viñales, as well as with Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández in the Trackhouse Racing satellite team. The Italian also provided another assurance: ‘The first three months will be very intense for the rider market, but we will face them very calmly’.