Jake Dixon will embark on his fourth season of Moto2 World Championship racing in 2022 after securing a deal to return to Team Aspar, which will compete under the GASGAS brand next year.
The Briton - the 2018 British Superbike Championship runner up - made his intermediate class debut with Aspar in 2019, though he endured a troubled year running less competitive customer KTM machinery.
After two years with Petronas Sprinta Racing - which departs Moto2 after this weekend’s Valencia finale - Dixon heads back to Aspar, which will be rebranded next season as GASGAS Racing.
An expansion of the relationship that saw Spanish trials/enduro experts GASGAS make its short circuit debut in Moto3 this year, the KTM-owned brand will move into Moto2 next year using a Kalex chassis.
“It’s great to be back with Aspar and the GASGAS team for 2022," said Dixon. "Returning to the team feels like coming home and to keep with familiar equipment is another plus.
"I’m already excited to know what we can do next season and I cannot thank the team enough for the opportunity. I hope we can do great things together.”
After some flashes of promising form in 2020, Dixon has endured a difficult season in Moto2 this year with only two top ten results leaving him 20th overall coming into the final race.
However, this year did see him make a creditable MotoGP debut with Petronas SRT Yamaha, a two-race stint that saw him briefly linked with a move to the rebranded WithU RNF Racing squad for 2022 before it chose to sign Darryn Binder instead.
Despite this, the move to Aspar GASGAS could prove lucrative for Dixon’s GP racing career amid talk KTM is interested in expanding to three teams and six bikes in MotoGP, with the additional outfit to run under another name associated with the parent Pierer Group company.
It is believed GASGAS would be favourites for this, in part due to Aspar’s own MotoGP experience, though KTM’s Chinese manufacturing partners CFMoto - which debuts in Moto3 next year - has also been linked.
