Aleix Espargaro has now officially begun his role as a test rider for the Honda MotoGP team. The turn of the year usually marks the transition point from one contract to the next.
Espargaro announced his retirement at the end of the season in May, ahead of the Catalunya Grand Prix. He entered just under 300 races in the premier class.
The Spaniard made his debut with Pramac in 2009 but has spent the last seven to eight seasons with Aprilia. For the first five years he has been assigned to the Aprilia-backed Gresini team, then from 2022 to the newly formed factory team.
Espargaro never won a trophy, but collected six Grand Prix victories, 10 poles and 17 podiums. And that makes him a real asset to Honda in his new role.
Honda He officially announced at the beginning of July that he will join Stefan Bradl for 2025. He endorses Joan Mir and Luca Marini’s equestrian line.
Espargaro has already had the opportunity to ride the Honda bike at the post-season test in Barcelona. He outgrew Mir, and while his age wasn’t necessarily important, he seemed to adapt quickly.
Joan Mir
New Year’s Day, Honda MotoGP The Instagram account announced that Epargaro’s arrival was ‘official’. They were able to give him a formal welcome to the operation.
Mir shared a post on Su. HistoryBy writing ‘ready to work hard together’. Then Espargaro told his countryman A History Adding his own ‘Jeff let’s go’.
Whether Mir and Espargaro will share the track this season remains to be seen. Like their fellow manufacturers, Honda can provide wild signals.
They used the maximum allocation for Bradl last season. The German scored two points with a best finish of P14 at San Marino.
Alex Espargaro has done something to give Honda hope for the 2025 MotoGP season
Honda are coming off the back of a bitterly disappointing 2024 campaign. They finished at the bottom of the table with only 35 points, less than half of what the satellite team LCR managed.
Mir and Marini are ranked 21st and 22nd with 21 and 14 points respectively. At the base of the structures were about 50 Yamaha floats.
While he’s not a full-time rider, Honda looks to Espargaro to help lift them out of the mud. And his MotoGP track record suggests he can do just that.
In the year When he joined the Aprilia stable in 2017, they were the slowest constructor on the grid. But in 2022 they were able to compete for wins and podiums – the kind of revival that Honda is considering.
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