Maverick Vinales will depart Aprilia at the conclusion of the 2024 MotoGP season and join KTM's team the following year.
With one grand prix win in Austin this year and seven podium finishes overall, the Spaniard will conclude his three-year relationship with Aprilia.
He will become a part of the organization that Tech3 and KTM's parent business Pierer Mobility group now oversee together. This squad currently competes under the GasGas moniker.
Enea Bastianini, a five-time grand prix champion, will be his teammate at Tech3, but Marc Marquez will replace him in the factory Ducati squad the following season.
Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta, as previously stated, will compete for KTM in the factory team, although the company plans to field two teams with two identical motorcycles this year.
Aprilia will now be without both of its factory riders as Vinales is set to join KTM; Aleix Espargaro has already declared his intention to retire from MotoGP at the conclusion of the current season. According to Motorsport.com, he will be joining Honda as a test rider for the next season.
Vinales had originally intended to look at the possibilities of extending his contract with Aprilia, which had given him a respite after his contentious breakup with Yamaha in 2021. Nonetheless, the Noale-based company decided against meeting with Vinales to discuss a deal until Espargaro had made up his mind.
After Ducati selected Marquez as Francesco Bagnaia's 2025–2026 teammate, things took a drastic turn on Monday after the Italian Grand Prix when Aprilia revealed it had recruited Jorge Martin from Pramac at a significant cost.
Though the most probable possibilities are thought to be current VR46 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio, it is unclear who will not occupy the second factory RS-GP at Aprilia.
Vinales, who was born in 1995, made his 125cc World Championship debut in 2011 and went on to win the Moto3 championship two years later. In his three years in the small class, he recorded up to 12 wins. category for beginners.
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Following a single Moto2 season in 2014 that produced four wins and a career-high third place in the standings, he advanced to the premier class in 2015 as an official Suzuki factory rider.
Before switching to Yamaha in 2016, he went on to win his first MotoGP race for Suzuki.
As Valentino Rossi's teammate and in his first race as an Iwata employee, Viñales won his first two races in Qatar and Argentina and his fifth in France. He replaced Jorge Lorenzo on the ride.
He won five additional races between 2018 and 2021, but not enough to challenge for the championship.
He made the decision to quit Yamaha in the middle of 2022, but Aprilia was forced to hire him after an uncomfortable event in Austria.
In 2025, Vinales will race for a fourth different manufacturer during his eleventh season in the elite class.
