Aprilia ended up being able to provide Miguel Oliveira with a current RS-GP from the beginning of the MotoGP season, but the task was not easy from a logistical point of view. The satellite team Trackhouse Racing is expected to have Raúl Fernández with this year’s version of the bike later on.
Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing, explained why it was considered impossible a few weeks ago for the satellite team to have current bikes: ‘Ultimately, there are eight bikes, two per rider, so we said it simply wasn’t possible. In fact, we thought it wasn’t even possible for Miguel. But we’re doing it. We had to squeeze the design office, we had to squeeze the procurement office, and we had to squeeze the suppliers. And that was the most critical part, so I need to talk to all three riders with the 2024 bike about not being able to crash in testing because we still don’t have many spare parts. But soon we’ll be, so to speak, at full capacity.’
The Italian said that the project with Trackhouse Racing started a year earlier than anticipated, but the opportunity was not wasted: ‘Ultimately, it was supposed to start a year later. We thought, “Let’s start planning things properly, with a good vision.” But we had the opportunity to do it, “Very well, let’s do it.” And we decided to do it. It’s a great motivation, it’s a great opportunity.’
For next year’s season, Rivola ensured that all four Aprilia bikes will be identical from the beginning: ‘We know that, for example, in 2025, we will have four bikes that are exactly the same [from the start]. Surely that helps with performance. We’ve seen other manufacturers do it and it helps.’
