Aprilia Racing endured a rollercoaster, and at times painful, 2021 but the light at the end of the tunnel is approaching for the Italian marque.
In a year marred by the loss of Fausto Gresini, Aprilia also celebrated its debut MotoGP podium with Aleix Espargaro at Silverstone, after the RS-GP stalwart claimed third position from the hard fighting Ducati of Jack Miller at the close of the BritishGP.
Initially starting the year with Lorenzo Savadori alongside, the Catalan completed his fifth season at Aprilia partnered by ex-Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales, thanks to some unexpected mid-season drama. Despite a steady introduction - with Viñales recording a best result of eighth at Misano’s second visit - the Noale factory believes it is poised to enjoy a stellar season in 2022 with its top gun line up.
“This season was a wonderful season for us, we achieve a very good result,” Paolo Bonora, Aprilia Race Manager commented. “We follow the podium for many years and this year we achieved this great result in Silverstone, so we are very happy as a team and the riders are very happy about this.
“We thank so much Espargaro but also Savadori and now Viñales, for the development that we have done and we will do for next season but for sure we must improve. We have positive things in our bike but we are still improving, we need to improve because to fight with the other competitors is very difficult in such a competitive environment and championship like MotoGP.
“During the first part of the season we raise up the performance, the confidence of the riders improve step by step and the results of Silverstone was an unbelievable result for us, followed immediately by the Aragon fouth place. We are very happy at this moment and will be focused on next season to improve another time the bike for sure and make another step in the confidence of the riders.
“To be honest, I give an eight value because we are still improving and we need to improve,” Bonora continued when asked to rate the team’s performance in 2021. “I can’t give a ten because ten means we win a race and at the moment we are fighting to be in the top ten every time. When we are comfortable we can be in the top five but to win a race we need to make a step.
“As you know Espargaro for us is our reference since many years and at the moment we are very happy with him. His mental situation is very good, he feels very good inside the team, so we are very happy about him.
“With Maverick we are using this part of the season as a test, for us and for him. We are trying to approach and ease in his riding style and find out the best way to achieve the best performance because, as you can understand, arriving from another bike quite different compared to our bike, is necessary to follow step by step his request and we are doing this race by race.”
