According to Spanish website Motocuatro.
com Aleix Espargaro will be making the switch from Aspar to NGM Forward Racing next season to ride the Yamaha bike that the Japanese manufacturer will be leasing.
NGM Forward has already confirmed that they will be fielding complete Yamaha YZR-M1s, and Espargaro is on their wish list, however the Spanish rider has a clause in his contract that if he ends the season as the best CRT finisher (which is a certainity, barring injuries) he will have to automatically continue to ride for Aspar, despite his strong wishes to leave the team.
To get out of the contract would cost Espargaro 600,000 euros, but apparently all the parties involved have decided to negotiate, and it seems that Aspar Martinez is now willing to slice off 200,000 euros from the penalty clause, with Forward Racing willing to pay off a big part of it in two years as they offering the rider a two year deal, while Espargaro will be paying around 100,000 euros out of his own pocket.
So esentially the Spaniard will be riding the ‘production version’ of the M1 for free, but Yamaha assures that it will have the same performance of that of the Tech3 satellite bikes, only with a 24 liter tank and Magneti Marelli spec ECU.
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