MotoGP: Maverick Vinales joins Aprilia for 2022 MotoGP season
Aprilia Racing announced that Maverick Viñales will race for them in 2022, as the Spaniard gets set to line up alongside compatriot Aleix Espargaro next season. Viñales has signed an annual contract with an option for renewal.
The signing of Viñales is another step in the Italian team’s growth and development strategy, which comes in the year of Aprilia transitioning into a full factory team. These are two changes that testify to Aprilia’s desire to continue to grow in the MotoGP™ World Championship.
Born in 1995, Viñales made his debut in World Championship in 2011 astride an Aprilia in the 125cc category, taking four wins and five podiums, seeing him secure the Rookie of the Year and third overall. After another high-level season, he won the Moto3™ 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™ for the 2015 season with Suzuki and then with Yamaha in 2017.
In the premier class, Viñales has taken nine wins, 13 pole positions and 28 podium finishes so far, 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 Viñales, 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 Viñales 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.”