Aprilia MotoGP Team Update

Aprilia's second full year in MotoGP has proven as hard as team manager and Chief Project Engineer Romano Albesiano expected. The new, "real" GP bike marked a big step forward in performance compared to the previous edition (that was largely based on the RSV4 Superbike racer).

The new V4 engine (I calculate that the Vee angle has grown from the 65 degrees of the stock RSV4 engine to somewhere between 72 and 77 degrees, for the purpose of achieving superior natural balance and efficiency) is proving stronger that the old one. But is still short of the power levels achieved by all the other competitors in the MotoGP series.

The chassis appears to be at a more competitive level, as the Dutch Grand Prix at Assen proved with the pouring rain acting as a great equalizer, with both Aprilia riders progressing to midfield positions. But Assen was too extreme to prove anything serious.

While working hard to make the bike more competitive for 2017, Albesiano also decided to completely clean the slate and hire two new riders, Aleix Espargaro from the Suzuki MotoGP Team, and Sam Lowes from Moto2. Both of the current team riders Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista have experienced mixed results in their 2016 campaigns. This did not help the evolution of the bike to where Albesiano believes its present potential lies. Espargaro is a fast young rider with a lot of experience that he is expected to invest into the development of the bike. Sam Lowes is a young up-and-coming talent with a positive record in Moto2 and the maturity to step up to MotoGP.

Stay tuned, as Aprilia has shown over the years that despite being a small company it has a great capacity for beating the giants of the industry at their own games.