Aleix: New MotoGP Concessions? ‘Hopefully they can make a good proposal’

The Concession system has b𓃲een redundant ever since Aprilia graduated to the same rules as other manufacturers last season, when Espargaro also made history with the RS-GP’s first and so far only MotoGP win.
Aprilia’s progression followed that of Ducati, Suzuki and KTM, which a🤪ll benefited from technical perks until they reached a certain number of podiums.
The only current manufacturers not to have benef🌃ited from Concessiꦡons are the once-dominant Honda and Yamaha brands, which are now slumped at the bottom of the constructors’ standings.
Consci💟ous of Suzuki’s sudden exit, Dorna is keen to revive the Concession♈ system to ensure all manufacturers can remain competitive through the bike development. Especially in the new era of limited testing and Sprint races, which have cut practice time to a minimum.
- Quartararo: “A lot of years waiting for somet𓄧hing big at Yamah🉐a”
- KTM confirms Binder, Kallio for Festival of Speed, Pol Espargaro back for GASGAS - L𝄹atest Goodwood MotoGP line-up
- Puig: Honda ‘downh🐲📖ill’ after Covid, Marc Marquez injury
At present, a manufactur🍷er must go a complete season without a single MotoGP podium to access Concessions the following year. Many feel that bar is set far too low and has already been exceeded by Honda and Yamaha.
Yamaha and Honda hꦛave⛎ each taken one podium in 2023, yet their top rider is only 9th (Fabio Quartararo) and 13th (Alex Rins) respectively in the world championship standings.
“We have big brands here spending millions of euros, so to bal🍃ance the championship, I think, is understandable. It's OK,” said Espargaro. “But how to do꧙ it? It's difficult.
“I'm not against 🍷it. We [Aprilia] took profit from this and I think it's good. I mean, I want to see races with 3-4 different manufacturers fighting for the win like tw൲o years ago, or even last year.
“So I think it's good. But how to do it? It’ꦍs not easy. So hopefully they can make a good proposal.”

The current Concession package features more engine changes, exemption from the in🦩-season engine design freeze and aerodynamic update limits, plus the opportunity for private testing with race riders.
The testing perk is likely to feature prominently in the revised package and Espargaro confirmed it had💦 been valuable during his time at Aprilia.
“The Concessions help you quite a lot. I mean [having] the Test Team is OK. The Satellite ꧒team is also good. But if the factory riders can test things, if you have ✃more updates during the season, the Concessions I think are a good idea,” Espargaro explained.
“But I don't want 🔴[Aprilia] to use it anymore. I want to win with the same weapons as the others.”
Unfortunately for Espargaro, Aprilia - like Suzuki and KTM before them - have suffered a perform💞ance slump𓄧 in their first season out of Concessions.
The Spaniard is again the top RS-GP riಌder but only eighth in the world championship (with o♏ne podium) compared to second when the summer break began a year ago.
But Espargar🐈o doesn’t be💛lieve the explanation is as simple as leaving Concessions.
“I don't think so. We’ve improved the reliability of the engine, there was just the problem that Maverick had [at Sach𒉰senring],” he said.
“And in terms of maintaining performance of the engine [with less engine changes], in the past I remem💝ber when the engine arrived to 800ks it started to ♛drop a lot of power.
“That’s not the cas🐬e anymore. I raced many times this year and last year at close to 2000ks and the engineꦕ was still performing well.
“In terms of the testing, still Salv꧅adori is testing a lot. So I don't think so.🌠”
Aprilia is third in t🌱he constructors’ standings, which is also where they had finished in 2022 after heartbreak at the Valencia finale.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Ross🌳i come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.