This year, Aprilia has, for the second time, a satellite team in MotoGP, and now it provides a completely updated third bike from the start – which is assigned to Miguel Oliveira. During the year, the same will happen with his Trackhouse Racing teammate, Raúl Fernández.
The CEO of Aprilia Racing, Massimo Rivola, spoke about the importance of having more identical bikes on the track: ‘It is very important, also because it’s not that the new bike is one spec. We have quite a lot of combinations and this will help. So, when Raúl also gets the 2024, for sure it will help. The more bikes you have, the more benefit you get, because you have more data. It’s also statistical information that is generated and you see the trend’.
Aprilia’s expansion in MotoGP naturally has its logistical challenges, and the Italian explained the approach to them: ‘It was a lot. We solved it working hard. Noale is a hard-working company. Every year we are doing a step forward. Becoming a factory team was already a big commitment, having a satellite team last year was another big commitment, and now this year having a sattelite team with this kind of bikes, it’s another one. How we’ve sorted it? Just working hard and trying to see opportunities instead of problems’.