Aprilia Can’t Decide Between Smith or Savadori to Race in 2021, Will Decide Next Year During Testing

The 2021 MotoGP grid is finally complete. Or complete-ish, anyway. Aprilia has finally made a decision on their second rider for 2021, and their decision is that they will decide after the winter tests at Sepang and Qatar have finished.

Both Lorenzo Savadori and Bradley Smith have been signed for 2021, to fill the roles of second contracted MotoGP rider alongside Aleix Espargaro, and MotoGP test rider.

Smith and Savadori will run through the testing program, including private tests and the scheduled official tests at Sepang and Qatar in February and March, and Aprilia will make its decision based on the outcome of that, Aprilia said in a press release.

Aprilia has been forced into this position by their decision to stick with Andrea Iannone throughout his appeals process.

Once the Italian lost his appeal against his suspension for doping, Aprilia was forced to look elsewhere, but by that time, there choices were severely limited.

Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow had turned down the opportunity. Aprilia had talks with WorldSBK rider Chaz Davies and Joe Roberts, Marco Bezzecchi, and Fabio Di Giannantonio in Moto2.

But, all those options fell through too, Roberts the last to turn down the Aprilia ride, informing the Italian factory on Sunday night.

The best solution, Aprilia decided, was to continue the project as they had started at the beginning of the year, sticking with their three current riders, and putting one of their test riders in the second seat.

Aprilia intend to expand the number of bikes on the grid to 4 in 2022, once the new five-year contract period for factories and teams in MotoGP commences, so doing this opens up perspectives.

The idea is to set up a system like Ducati, with a junior satellite team feeding into the factory squad, giving young riders a chance to learn and find their feet in MotoGP.

The MotoGP rider line up for 2021 appears below:

* To be decided after preseason testing is complete in February/March

Source: Aprilia Racing