Following the fatal accidents that occurred in more than one category in 2021, the FIM and Dorna took action, implementing a new minimum age of 18 for a rider to compete in the world championships, regardless of the class.
For some, this measure was appropriate to favor safety. However, its effects can also be less positive, particularly for teams and projects that develop young riders, such as Aspar.
Speaking to the SPEEDWEEK.com website, its owner, Jorge Martínez Aspar, admitted that the minimum age requirement poses challenges to his project: ‘The fact that young riders can only enter the Moto3 World Championship at 18 years old instead of 16 is a significant problem. Because in Spain, we have a huge reservoir of motorcycle talents who are 10, 11, 12 years old. As a team, we are investing a lot of money in these young boys to get them into the World Championship. But now they have to wait two more years than in the past to enter the GPs… that is very bad for my program’.
Keeping the riders in the FIM JuniorGP for several seasons is not a viable option, according to the Spaniard: ‘I can’t let talents compete in the JuniorGP for years. There, sponsors pay much less money. That’s impossible. After all, there are also big teams competing in the European Talent Cup’.