MotoGP: Espargaro and Aprilia's Argentina triumph is a win for Dorna as well

Sunday 3rd April 2022 is unlikely to be a day that Aleix Espargaro will ever forget.

In what was his 284th start across the three classes of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing, the Aprilia rider finally claimed his first ever race win, brilliantly holding off Jorge Martin to take victory in the Argentine GP.

In doing so, Espargaro lifted himself to the top of the World Championship standings after three races of the season, and in doing so, secured a first-ever MotoGP race win for Aprilia as well.

For Espargaro, and those associated with the Italian factory, this victory is just reward for the relentless hard work they have put in over the years, progressing from a team struggling to even score points, to one that is now standing on the top-step of the podium.

It could also be argued, however, that this success both for Aprilia and Espargaro out in South America, can also be seen as a significant victory for organisers Dorna, in the way they have run the series in recent years.

Back in 2012, with grid numbers dwindling in the wake of first Kawasaki and then Suzuki withdrawing from the sport, Dorna introduced a new Claiming Rules Team category, that allowed teams with lower budgets to enter into the series.

Although much maligned, with bikes from that category rarely, if ever, threatening to trouble the podium finishers, not only did CRT keep grid numbers at a respectable level – there would have been just 12 bikes on the grid were it not for the extra nine in that CRT category in 2012 – it also offered ways into the Championship for news teams, factories and riders.

One of those was, unofficially, Aprilia, whose ART bike proved the most effective of all those CRT, not least with the Aspar team that at the time swept all before