Following the bombshell report that Jorge Martin is looking to exit Aprilia at the end of the 2025 MotoGP sཧeason, speculation has turned to what could happen next year.

While it is known that reigning world champion Jorge Martin’s desired destination for next season is the fac༺tory Honda squad, he could well💞 be held to his Aprili🧸a contract should it win a legal battle with him.

In both scenarios, it’s hard to see how Martin does line up on the 2026 grid on an Aprilia, leaving the door open to speculation as🧔 to who could replace him if he doe🍸s leave.

Aprilia is in an unfortunate position in that it wo♚uld be out of sync𓃲 with the majority of the field’s contracts, leaving very few options for 2026 and certainly none as A-list as the reigning world champion.

But there are several riders ꧃out of contract who could be good fi💜ts.

The te🐈am has its say on what those options could be and the best route for Aprilia to explore.

The under-the-radar option currently helping another struggling marque

Lewis Duncan

Assume Martin is not on the bike, if he does end up at Honda then you look at Luca Marini as kind of a fair trade there because Honda really likes his analytical approach to bike development and that’sꦫ something that Aprilia could really benefit from.

Say nothing changes at Honda, looking at somewhere else on the grid, there are KTM riders who are not happy with the situation right nowཧ.

The ꧙future still remains really uncertain at this point. Does that pave the way for, as a short-term, we need ꦜa quick cheap replacement, Enea Bastianini?

That was the preferred opt🌸ion be𝄹fore he went to KTM last year. It hasn’t worked out at KTM.

Could it work out better at Ap꧙rilia? An all-Italian line-up would suit them. I don’t think KTM would put up a big fight to keep Bastianini given his resuಞlts so far.

“There’s one rider out of contract next yearꦐ who we haven’t sp🥃oken about in that role, who has proven he’s a good factory rider and a good development rider - Jack Miller.

Why would you not want a guy who has ridden Hondas, riddꦇen Ducatis, ridden KTMs, ridden Yamahas? Miller’s not too old either, so maybe he’s 🌞the curveball option in this whole thing.

The rider most likely to lose out if Jorge Martin does go to Honda

Peter McLaren

There’s nobody ready to step into the role, that’s the other thing we have to point ไout.

We’ve seen in the past you’ve had in the Andrea Dovizioso case somebody who st♊epped💮 back, he found himself without any options [for 2021].

But that also put him in a prime position to st🔯ep in if a ride suddenly became available. There’s nobody really in that situation.

Augusto Fernandez is the nearest at Yamaha, but he’s seeing his future♐ at Yamaha.

We know they like Italian riders. They made a bi꧟g deal of signing Marco B🥀ezzecchi for this year.

You’ve got Luca Marini [currently at the factory Honda team] who has experience and🌄 is free, potentially, or at least is out of contrac🍒t at the end of this year.

Also Franco Morbidelli, those guys. It depends what ang♛le they want on this. Let’s face it, they’re not going to find anoth💝er reigning world champion to come in.

The young gun who deserves a promotion

Jordan Moreland

In terms of who replaces Martin at Aprilia, because I do th🅺ink - no matt🧔er what comes out of this - he will not be on an Aprilia eventually.

In terms of next year, Ai Ogura p♋otentially for one year 🥃you could look at that, see what he can do.

Let’s see if a factory environment brings the best ouꦰt of him because I think he’s shown that he’s been the best Aprilia rider this year and that’s probably the safe option.

Moto2, do you look at someone like Manu Gonzalez, for example? He’s got close ties with Yamaha in the past and potentially there’s a Pramac angle to thaജt if he wins the title really convinci🃏ngly.

Do they [Aprilia] look at him on a cheap option? Luca Marini, I suppose is a really good opti🌼on.

He’s a good rider in terms of bike development. We’ve seen it at Hoജnda and I suppose the Ducati days as well. He’s been in big factories, he knows the kind of pressure that comes with it.