The Angel Nieto MotoGP team will return to the Moto2 World Championship with a two-rider effort in 2019, fielding KTM chassis for its first intermediate class campaign since 2014.
Aspar – renamed in honour of the late 13-times world champion Nieto for this year – stepped away from the Moto2 class at the end of 2014 to focus on its MotoGP effort.
Since 2016, the Jorge Martinez-run outfit has been a Ducati customer, running year-old Desmosedicis for Alvaro Bautista since last year, and two-year-old bikes for Karel Abraham.
However, Aspar will disappear from the premier class grid in 2018 as the incoming Sepang International Circuit team takes over its two slots for its customer Yamaha outfit.
The team will partner with Austrian marque KTM, and will run its machinery in its CEV Junior Moto3, Moto3 World Championship and Moto2 campaigns.
“We are really very happy to have reached this agreement with KTM, which will allow our project to continue growing with great results,” Martinez, whose team enjoyed 31 wins in the intermediate class, said.
“In only our first year together in Moto3 we have already won a Grand Prix, we have finished on the podium and we have been close on several other occasions.
“Now we will double our efforts and compete together also in Moto2. We are very excited to have a project that starts from base level, in the Junior Moto3 World Championship, and continues through Moto3 to Moto2.
“Our objective is to make it a winning combination in all categories and for us to get back to being one of the world’s leading teams.”
The Nieto team took a shock victory at Le Mans in Moto3 with Albert Arenas, who was promoted to the win following a penalty for Fabio Di Giannantonio. Arenas' teammate Andrea Migno joined him on the podium.
In MotoGP, after a difficult start, Bautista has enjoyed a strong run of form on his GP17, tallying up top 10 finishes since Mugello and moving up to 13th in the championship on 57 points.
However, with options to remain in MotoGP limited, Bautista now looks set to switch to the World Superbike Championship with the factory Ducati team to partner Briton Chaz Davies.
Abraham, who brings considerable backing from his Czech homeland, is now poised to replace Xavier Simeon at the Avintia team. Tito Rabat is expected to keep his place at the team also.
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