Hot on the heels of the announcement from Suzuki that Andrea Iannone would be leaving them at the end of the 2018 MotoGP season, Aprilia have confirmed the Italian will replace Scott Redding for 2019-2020.
It will be Iannone’s third works team in a row and he joins Aleix Espargaro in the squad. What happens to Redding now is anyone’s guess but it looks like his time in the premier class is now at an end.
“With Iannone, we have another highly talented and fast rider who is also demonstrating his value this season. His arrival is a sign of the Piaggio Group and Aprilia’s growing commitment to the MotoGP programme, where our bike has already demonstrated that it can rely on a valid technical base,” said team managed Romano Albesiano.
“Now we need to stay focused on the 2018 season, beginning from the next GP of Barcelona. We have a strong team that has never stopped working hard. We want to keep growing and take the RS-GP where it deserves to be this season, which is still long, with Aleix and Scott, speaking of whom, I wish to thank publicly for his great professionalism and for his consistently high level of commitment.”
How the grid shapes up (unconfirmed participants in italics)
Team | Rider | Rider | ||
Repsol Honda | Jorge Lorenzo | Marc Marquez | ||
Movistar Yamaha | Valentino Rossi | Maverick Vinales | ||
Ducati | Andrea Dovizoso | Danilo Petrucci | ||
Ecstar Suzuki | Alex Rins | Joan Mir | ||
Aprilia | Aleix Espargaro | Andrea Iannone | ||
Red Bull KTM | Pol Espargaro | Johann Zarco | ||
Pramac Ducati | Jack Miller | Pecco Bagnaia | ||
LCR Honda | Cal Crutchlow | Taka Nakagami | ||
Tech3 KTM | Miguel Oliveira | Hafizh Syahrin | ||
Avintia Ducati | Tito Rabat | Xavier Simeon | ||
Aspar Ducati | ||||
Petronas Yamaha | ||||
Marc VDS |