Aleix Espargaro signs with HRC as test rider

Less than two months after announcing he’d be retiring from MotoGP, Aleix Espargaro has revealed that he’ll stay connected to grand prix racing beyond this season. The Spanish veteran, currently riding for Aprilia Racing, has signed with Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) as a test rider for 2025. The 34-year-old will join HRC’s existing test rider, Stefan Bradl, in continuing development of the Honda RC213V.

Since the highs of the Marc Marquez era at HRC last decade, which included four successive Rider and Constructor World Championships from 2016 to 2019, Honda and the RC213V have been on a downward spiral. Winless in the COVID-compromised 2020 MotoGP season, Honda did win three races in 2021 (all achieved by Marquez), but went winless again in 2022, also finishing in last place in the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in the MotoGP era.

In 2023, a race win for LCR Honda’s Alex Rins at CotA was Honda’s only victory for the year, as well as its most recent race win at time of writing. After ten rounds of this year’s championship, no Honda rider has finished inside the top ten of a feature race. This lack of success ultimately led Marquez to end his long tenure with Honda at the end of 2023 to join satellite Ducati team, Gresini Racing this year.

While Espargaro will bring undoubted experience to HRC (close to 250 premier class starts and over 1,300 MotoGP points) and was a factor in turning Aprilia from backmarker to race winner, whether he can do the same at Honda is another matter entirely. The Spaniard is positive about the challenge, though, stating on instagram that he was very excited to start a new chapter in his career, adding that he was “honoured” to be joining HRC as a test rider and he’ll try his best to “help them be back at the top” of MotoGP.

While unconfirmed at this stage, Espargaro will likely take his first ride on the RC213V at the Valencia post-season test in November.