Another box in the MotoGP lineup for the future has been filled: the Trackhouse team has in fact announced the renewal of Raul Fernande's contract for 2025 and 2026. The Spanish rider will thus remain on the American team's Aprilia for another two years, having arrived in Noale in 2023 after his debut season in the premier class with KTM.
Now a vacancy remains in the Trackhouse, with Oliveira seemingly close to saying goodbye to move to Yamaha, in the Pramac team. The choice of a second rider is not a foregone conclusion: on the one hand there is the experienced Jack Miller, and on the other there is the option of targeting a youngster from Moto2, with Joe Roberts also likely to be interesting because of his U.S. passport.
Raul Fernandez celebrated the news: "I’m super happy to remain with Trackhouse Racing MotoGP. That’s all we wanted; this new project, with Justin and Davide, is great and they have built a very good team. I am delighted to hear their plans for the future as they have a clear idea of what they want to do and for me, from the beginning of the year, it was my priority to try to stay in the team. At the end, I get to be here for the next two years which leaves me very satisfied but, of course, this also means we have a lot of work to do."
"We will have the full factory material in 2025 and 2026, obviously great news and right now, we are gearing up to start with a new bike in the middle of this year, so we have to make good use of this to prepare for next year as well." continued the Spaniard. "We need to stay calm, understand everything about the bike and see what we have to do for the 2025 season – it is very important. Trackhouse Racing MotoGP is just an amazing team, I love the ideas of this American organization and I’m also happy to see Justin’s ambitions. He is new to MotoGP but ready to bring something different in here for the American market and I hope we can make a difference - trying to make MotoGP grow there. Also, with Davide I’m very happy. He won five titles in MotoGP so far and I think he’s the right person to help me to fulfill my dreams. I strongly believe in him and his abilities to create a great team, I’m just over the moon. Now, in Silverstone, we will receive the 2024 upgrade specification of the Aprilia, which is going to be exciting. The first part of this year has already gone well, especially the last four rounds, as we managed to make some big steps and took the maximum from the bike. I feel that we are on the limit at the moment, so it’s great to jump to the new Aprilia now. We will have the same material, like the factory riders and Miguel, so it will be interesting to find out about our level inside the championship, especially on the Aprilia side."
Team manager Davide Brivio commented, "We are happy to have been able to secure Raul in our rider lineup for the next two years. Having seen him at work over the last few months, we have appreciated his talent and I feel that he has changed his approach to racing and that he is willing to work, to strive to improve, to solve problems and this always with a positive approach . This is something we have appreciated and will be very important to carry forward for our future, having already 3 years of experience in MotoGP and being able to know the latest Aprilia RS-GP with 2024 specifications from Silverstone until the end of the season will be the best way to prepare Raul for the next two years. I think we have a lot in common, like the way we think about this project. Raul is happy with his team, he is happy with the direction we are going in, and so there are all the conditions we need to make our challenge stronger, help Raul be a stronger rider, and continue to push to make Trackhouse Racing a better MotoGP team."
Team owner Justin Marks added, "I am thrilled that Raul will join Trackhouse for the future - he has shown the dedication and commitment necessary to excel at the MotoGP World Championship level. We’re a new organization and learning every day so having a young, hungry, rider like Raul will be tremendously beneficial as we continue to work with Aprilia building the team. Raul has tremendous speed and talent and we all know that, as his experience grows, he will be closer and closer to the top step of the podium."