The Spaniard will leave the Italian brand after three seasons, in which he managed to score one victory, this year in Austin, which adds to a total of seven podiums so far.
Maverick Viñales will join the team currently run in tandem by Tech 3 and the Pierer Mobility group, which this year competes under the sponsorship of Gas Gas. For 2025, both the Catalan and Bastianini will wear a KTM suit, as the Austrian manufacturer intends to put four identical prototypes on the track. Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta will ride for the factory team, while Bastianini and Viñales will ride for Tech 3. Aprilia will therefore lose the current duo of Viñales and Aleix Espargaró, with the latter having decided to retire. According to Motorsport.com, Espargaró will move to Honda as a test driver.
Viñales’ initial intention was to explore the possibility of extending his contract with Aprilia, the brand that gave him a home in the latter part of 2021 after the traumatic split with Yamaha. However, the Noale company preferred to wait for Espargaró to decide his future before sitting down to negotiate with Viñales.
The Monday following the Italian Grand Prix, Aprilia announced the hiring of Jorge Martin, for which it made a great economic effort to convince him, taking advantage of the fact that Ducati had excluded the Majorcan from the fight as teammate of Pecco Bagnaia in the official team. Ducati has in fact decided to hire Marc Marquez, who will wear the red jersey until at least 2026.
At this point, it remains to be seen who will take the remaining RS-GP, although it would be logical for it to go to one of the two current VR46 drivers: Marco Bezzecchi or Fabio Di Giannantonio.
Ten victories in as many seasons in MotoGP
Viñales, born in Figueras in Empordà on 12 January 1995, made his debut in the 125cc MotoGP world championship in 2011 and in 2013 became world champion in Moto3, taking 12 victories in his three years in the minor class. After just one season in Moto2 in 2014, with four victories and third place in the championship, Maverick moved up to the premier class as an official Suzuki rider (2015), where he achieved his legendary first MotoGP victory, in the British GP 2016.
Making his debut with Yamaha, which he joined in 2017 to replace three-time champion Jorge Lorenzo and teammate Valentino Rossi, Maverick won the first two races, in Qatar and Argentina, and the fifth, in France, before a change in tire specifications plunged him into a difficult period lacking in great results. Between 2018 and 2021 he won another five races, but was never able to fight for the title and keep his seat in the Iwata manufacturer, despite the contract, due to the lack of feeling with a bike that has never adapted to your tastes.
In mid-2022 he was fired from Yamaha and signed for Aprilia, with whom he won the 2024 GP of the Americas, becoming the first rider to achieve success with three different brands in the MotoGP World Championship (Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia).
In 2025 and in his eleventh season in the premier class, in which he has achieved ten victories so far, Viñales will compete for the fourth different manufacturer, the Austrian KTM and, more specifically, with its satellite team, the French Tech3, where in this Augusto Fernández and rookie Pedro Acosta compete this season.
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