Aprilia today confirmed that they are negotiating with Scott Redding to replace Sam Lowes, who has been dropped by the Italian factory with one year of his MotoGP contract still to run.

Redding, Austrian MotoGP 2017

Redding in turn has been dropped by the Pramac Ducati team to make way for yesterday’s new signing Jack Miller.

Rumours linking Lowes with a switch to replace Miller on the Marc VDS Honda started at once, but a team spokesman said today that there had been no contact with the British rider, although “any rider with MotoGP experience is obviously on our list”.

More convincing rumours linked Lowes with a return to Moto2, possibly to join Thomas Luthi in the CarXpert team. Lowes has claimed three race wins in the intermediate class.

Sam Lowes, Austrian MotoGP 2017

By Michael Scott