It was a fairy tale weekend for Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia Racing down in Termas de Rio Hondo. That long-awaited first victory for both rider and team was finally clinched, on the Spaniard’s 200th weekend as a premier class rider. But does this now mean Aprilia have lost its concessions?
In 2021 and 2022, Aprilia have been the only factory who have been able to make use of concessions, after KTM's stellar 2020 campaign. Concessions were introduced in 2016 to help manufacturers gain slight advantages if they were underperforming, including having nine engines available during a season instead of seven, the right to not seal the engine specification before the season, having six wildcard entries instead of three, having more test days allocated and have factory riders able to test in non-Official Test days.
Aprilia have benefitted from this concession system since 2016. Aleix Espargaro’s Silverstone third place finish scored them one point, with two points being rewarded for a second place and three for a win. Once a manufacturer scores six points, within two years, they lose the right to concessions for the following season.
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So, with the British GP third place and unforgettable Argentina GP victory, Aprilia now have four concession points in their pocket. Two more before August 29th 2023 – two years after the Silverstone rostrum – will see them hit or surpass the magic number six, thus losing concessions for either 2023 if it happens this season, or 2024 if it happens next season.
With the form Aleix Espargaro has shown so far in 2022, and the fact teammate Maverick Viñales was back fighting at the sharp end after finding a setting in Indonesia, all signs point towards Aprilia losing concessions for 2023. That’s not going to be easy, especially in today’s climate of MotoGP™ competitiveness, but at this stage, you’d back Aprilia to stand on the podium a few more times this season.
World Championship leader Aleix Espargaro, Viñales and the entire Noale factory will be hoping this weekend in Austin, Texas, sees them lose concessions for 2023.