There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the fact that Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez don’t have the most up-to-date versions of the Aprilia RS-GP, with both riders concerned that they have ‘old’ and even reconditioned equipment. Maverick Viñales has no doubt that it would be beneficial for both of them to have the 2023 bike, and he spoke about the work orders and how it would be good, in order to evolve, to have the RNF duo testing as well.
In the preview of another round of the World Championship, Viñales was asked what it would be like for Aprilia to have all the riders on the same bike, expressing his lack of knowledge and recalling what happened precisely with RNF, then SRT Petronas and WithU, during their partnership with Yamaha: ‘It’s very difficult to answer that. Because I remember that when I was at Yamaha the four bikes weren’t the same, [the satellite bikes] were from the previous year. So I don’t know how the factory can do it. It also depends on whether they’re testing things or just racing, it’s very different’.
What is certain is that the logic of not having the satellite team riders test is something that for #12… doesn’t make sense:
– I don’t know if Aprilia can really ‘force’ the RNF to test things, I don’t know. But if you have two other riders with the same bike and they don’t test anything, and you’re testing and testing, that’s not logical. If they gave us all the same bike and the option to test all the parts, like Ducati with Pramac, that would be fantastic. Because it would save me a lot of time.