Pramac Yamaha MotoGP rider Miguel Oliveira is believed by sources to have had talks about a 2026 test rider role with another manufacturer - even if he's not very enthusiastic about the idea publicly.
Oliveira's camp is understood to have had conversations with Aprilia over him slotting in alongside test rider Lorenzo Savadori in an expanded development role for the growing Italian manufacturer.
The Portuguese has looked for some time to be the more likely of Pramac Yamaha’s two current riders to be replaced for 2026 following the news that World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu would join the squad for next season, with an injury-hit start to the year affecting Oliveira's hopes of staying on.
That has led to a suggestion that he would instead find his way to the World Superbike paddock for next year, something that he had somewhat grudgingly admitted would be a possibility.
But, according to The Race’s sources in the production racing series, it seems that his management has instead started to reject offers in that paddock, with the possible MotoGP deal with Aprilia thought to be a potential explanation.
"My desire is to race bikes. Properly race. I'm 30 and I don't see myself really doing the testing thing," Oliveira insisted The Race during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
But he has also repeateadly specified that he's "open to anything".
"The thing is, you don't really know what could be a development plan and a wildcard plan for next season - also because what's the sense in wildcarding [in 2026] when the bikes are going to be different [for 2027]?" he told media on Sunday. "So, I don't know.
"Really, it's a little bit shooting in the dark. But we'll see. In the next week we'll have some news and we'll move on from there."
The news in question is likely the confirmation that Pramac team-mate Jack Miller will stay on, thus leaving Oliveira with no route to remain on the MotoGP grid.
Oliveira rode Aprilias in 2023 and 2024 as part of first the RNF and then Trackhouse satellite teams, before making the move to Pramac for 2025 on a two-year deal with a break clause that Yamaha triggered over the MotoGP summer break.
Aprilia is one of just two manufacturers in MotoGP to essentially have only a single test rider (the other manufacturer being Ducati) at a time when most have expanded their operations to two or three former MotoGP racers - with Honda signing Aleix Espargaro and Taka Nakagami to join Stefan Bradl, Yamaha securing the services of Andrea Dovizioso and Augusto Fermandez, and KTM moving Pol Espargaro over from satellite team Tech3 to work with Dani Pedrosa.
That has caused Aprilia availability issues at times in 2025 thanks to Savadori’s long stint standing in injured world champion Jorge Martin, taking over the second bike in their garage alongside Marco Bezzecchi for nine of the opening 10 rounds of the season.
It also meant that Aprilia was unable to field a replacement for Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura earlier this season when he was hurt at Silverstone, forcing it to field just three bikes for the Aragon Grand Prix as usual injury replacement Savadori was already busy riding in Martin's place.
Oliveira would thus be a welcome addition to the team - not only as an additional pair of hands to take on some of Savadori’s duties but also thanks to his MotoGP experience and development abilities, something he’s been able to utilise not only at Yamaha but as a factory KTM rider as well.
