MotoGP, Aleix Espargaró: "2024 won’t be my last season”

2024 will see Aleix Espargaró compete in his twenty-second world championship season, his thirteenth in the top class. Figures that make him the championship "veteran", a status that is only confirmed by his ID card, the rider born in 1989. The Spaniard turned 35 in July and yet he has no intention of hanging up his helmet just yet, despite having alluded to the possibility during the course of the 2023 season. Over the last two years, the Aprilia rider has been more competitive than ever, finishing fourth overall in 2022 and scoring two wins and a Sprint race win during the latest season. As reported by InSella magazine, Aleix looks keen to continue racing, even after 2024, with a few specific conditions that is.

Aleix Espargaró: "I don’t appreciate the new MotoGP format"

Espargaró himself has dropped a few clues as to his future and seems intent on competing at the highest level for a while yet: "I don’t think next year will be my last. If I’m fast, I think I can continue a bit longer”. Opposed to the introduction of the Sprint race right from the outset, the Spaniard again voices his objections: "I don’t like the weekend schedule, or the format, and I don’t like the calendar. I’m being honest. I understand the organiser’s position in staging 45 races a year, but where’s the limit?”

The Aprilia-Aleix pairing has benefitted both parties in recent seasons. Thanks to the rider’s indications, the Noale manufacturer has been able to close in on its rivals and become a credible adversary to Ducati, while Espargaró has been able to write a very respectable and competitive final chapter in his career. The Ducatis will presumably be even more competitive next season and, with the arrival of riders like Franco Morbidelli and particularly Marc Marquez, and the full recovery of Bastianini, it will be even tougher to run at the front. A year that looks somewhat complex then, and that could influence the Spaniard’s sporting future, for better or worse.