Aleix Espargaro denies 2024 retirement: “If I am fighting with the best…”
Espargaro, at age 33, is the oldest rider on the 2023 grid and is tied to Aprilia until the end of next year when it has long been speculated he will opt to end his career.
But, ahead of the French MotoGP at Le Mans, he has added further clarity about his future and explained under what circumstances he hopes to continue.
“I think that what I have done in MotoGP is good and if next year, at the beginning of the year, I am fighting with the best, I will continue in 2025, if Aprilia wants it,” Espargaro said to Marca.
“But if I'm not among the best, I'm not going to be worried because my time will have come.
“If 2024 has to be the last year, it will be.
“I think I am one of the few, being my age, who can say that it will depend on my level and my speed. It's not going to be very stressful."
Espargaro insisted that “all riders at the time of renewing, looking for other options, staying in the same team” face immense pressure but he would avoid this due to his seniority on the grid.
2024, the final year of Espargaro’s current contract with Aprilia, will be his 14th full-time season as a MotoGP rider.
He has never mounted a more threatening challenge for the championship than last season, when he battled Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo particularly in the first half of the year before falling away and finishing fourth in the standings.
After four rounds of 2023 he sits 58 points behind championship-leader Bagnaia.
