When talking about the leader board of the MotoGP Championship standings, Jorge Martin’s name is perched at the top. However, if we talk about world of mouth, Aprilia is quite the talk of the town in the first three MotoGP race series, Lusail, Portimao and CoTA. And when it comes to quality, the boss of Aprilia Racing – Massimo Rivola – believes that currently the best MotoGP motorbike package is not the Ducati Desmosedici, but rather the Aprilia RSGP RSGP. This was quite clear when he was asked by Spanish journalist – Mela Chercoles recently in Jerez.
After various rumors emerged including HRC’s interest in the #12, Rivola was very confident that Maverick Vinales would remain with Aprilia, he said that Maverick’s contract renewal would be very easy for both parties. This is because he believes that Maverick will think that if you want to win today you have to come to Aprilia and use an Aprilia motorbike. “Today it would be a mistake for anyone to leave Aprilia because it is the best bike in the paddock,” said Rivola.
When asked whether that meant Aprilia was better than Ducati, Rivola responded emphatically “OBVIOUSLY.” Rivola continued to explain his belief. “Journalists sometimes don’t really understand the numbers, because anyone who looks at the numbers well knows that the fastest motorbike in Qatar is #41, which is the Aprilia. And in Portimao, it was #12, namely the Aprilia which from lap 6 to 19 and a half without sixth gear, went 0.7 seconds on the penultimate lap with one gear less.”
“For me, the Aprilia is clearly a superior bike on some tracks and very competitive on others. That was seen in the first three races and now in the European race everything can change, but in the first three races the best is our bike.”
Hearing this, Francesco Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta at the press conference tried to respond to Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola’s claim that the RS-GP is now the best motorbike on the grid. “He needed to say that! I mean, he works there!” so says Acosta, “I could say the same thing about GASGAS!”
Pecco’s response: “Look at his t-shirt! ‘Aprilia’. Ask Gigi and he will say Ducati is the best.” Nevertheless, Bagnaia was quite praising Aprilia’s improved performance at the start of the 2024 season. “However, [looking] from behind, it seems they found a good balance. “The speed is not very good on a straight track, but the grip and stability are very high,” said Bagnaia, trying to analyze more deeply.
