Misano MotoGP: Bradley Smith confirmed as Aprilia test rider
It has🎶 been officially confirmed that Bradley Smith will become an Aprilia MotoGP test rider next season.
As was rumoured, the Englishmaౠn - who has lost his factory KTM race seat to Johann Zarco - will now help Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone develop the RS-GP as well as racing as a wild-card 'in a series' of MotoGP events.
Smith is also expected to race in the new electric MotoE championship next year. The identity of the team is not yet confirmed, but paddoc💙k rumours sugꦬgest it could be the Sepang squad.

It has been officially confirmed that Bradley Smith will become an Aprilia MotoGP te🌺st rider next season.
✱As was rumoured, the Englishman - who 🧸has lost his factory KTM race seat to Johann Zarco - will now help Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone develop the RS-GP as well as racing as a wild-card 'in a series' of MotoGP events.
S⭕mith is also expected to race in the new electric MotoE champi🗹onship next year. The identity of the team is not yet confirmed, but paddock rumours suggest it could be the Sepang squad.
A triple 125cc winner and Moto2 podium finisher, Smith joined the premier-class with Tech3 in 2013, spending four years with Yamaha during which he took two podiums and a best of sixth overall in the 2016 world champions𓂃hip.
The #38 joined the new KTM project for 2017 and took a pair of tenth p💖lace finishes last season. Smith equalled that result in Germany this year and, although he has known since May that he would lose his RC16 seat, has been race-testing 2019 parts for the Austrian factory following injuries to both team-mate Polꦺ Espargaro and test rider Mika Kallio.
Smith was on the list of possible KTM test riders for next season, but the factory's decision not to run wild-cards meant Smith - who is keen to try and regain a full-time MotoGP seat - looked elsewhere. With the Yamaha test seat expected to go to Jonas Folger, Smith moved in on the Aprilia 🦂deal.
Countryman Scott Redding, who has lost his ꧂race seat to Iannone, had also been in contention for the Aprilia testing job, but his chances weren't helped by somꦛe strong comments after Austria.
It remains to be seen if KTM will still want Smith to race-test 2019 parts for the remainder of this season. Aprilia, conscious that Aleix Espargaro's crew chief Marcus Eschenbacher is joining KTM next year,&n🍒bsp;has givenꦿ Espargaro a new crew mechanic from this weekend at Misano.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and ha🌱s seen Valentino R🧜ossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.