Aprilia Racing and Marco Melandri have parted ways just days out from Round 9 of the MotoGP championship in Germany, 12 July.
The decision has been amicable with Aprilia wishing the Italian rider a prosperous future.
In his place on the grid will be Aprilia development rider Michael Laverty, who has also been racing full-time in the British Superbike Championship for Tyco BMW.
Despite the Irishman spending most of this season on a S1000RR Superbike, Laverty is familiar and comfortable with Aprilia’s RS-GP machine, and is excited to take over Melandri’s seat in the Aprilia GP racing team.
“Competing against the regular guys racing MotoGP is a tough task, but I am relishing the opportunity,” Laverty said.
The GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland round of GP continues this weekend. Look out for the full race report in the next edition of AMCN, out 23 July.