Lorenzo Savadori will continue his long-running tenure as Aprilia’s MotoGP test rider, the Italian brand announcing on Friday that he will remain until at least the end of 2024.
Savadori has held the position of chief test rider for the Noale-based marque since it returned to the premier class for the 2015 season, the ’15 FIM Superstock 1000 champion having helped the brand progress from backmarker to race winner across his eight years with the organisation.
The Italian – who also raced Aprilia machinery in the World Superbike Championship for three seasons spanning 2016-’18 – declared that Aprilia “is now a second family”, adding that a “full-time return to racing” was still in the forefront of his mind having run the first half of 2021 with the marque before being replaced by current race rider Maverick Vinales.
“Aprilia Racing is now a second family for me: we have been together since 2015 and I am very happy to continue this wonderful collaboration,” said Savadori on his Aprilia extension.
“The work I’m doing together with all the guys in the Test Team makes me happy and it’s a source of pride for me to contribute to taking Aprilias to the top of MotoGP, as happened at Silverstone, where there were three RS-GP bikes fighting for the win.
“I am grateful to Aprilia for the trust they put in me for such a delicate role, although clearly every rider’s dream is still to return to full-time racing, to be able to show their potential.”
Despite having worked as Aprilia’s test rider since 2015, Savadori didn’t start a MotoGP race until 2020 – where he replaced an injured Bradley Smith for the final three rounds.
His best result in the premier class to date came in his last race at Assen just a couple of months ago, where he took the chequered flag 11th.
Savadori is currently campaigning his final wild-card outing of the year at the Red Bull Ring in Austria following his Dutch and Italian Grand Prix appearances, though he also competed in the French GP with Aprilia satellite squad RNF as a replacement for the then-injured Miguel Oliveira.
