How Aprilia turns a MotoGP weekend “upside down”

Aprilia technical director Fabiano Sterlacchini says attention to detail helped transform a difficult Friday into a dominant Mugello MotoGP weekend.

The Italian manufacturer recovered from a best of seventh in Friday practice to lock out the front row in qualifying, then secure one-two finishes in both the Sprint and grand prix.

Aprilia came within 0.034s of sweeping the entire Sunday podium, with Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura narrowly missing out to Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia.

Speaking after the race, Sterlacchini explained how Aprilia's work behind the scenes allowed it to completely change the course of its weekend.

"Upside-down"

“As I usually say, it's super important not to forget any aspect,” said Sterlacchini.

“So, what we do normally is we try to improve any weak point of the bike, but in the meantime, we also try to improve the system of work here during the weekend.

“What is important is that sometimes Friday is not a fantastic day, but then we turn the weekend completely ‘upside-down’ by meetings, analysis, working with the riders, improving the riding style, improving the setting of the bike, the electronics, everything.

“Every millisecond is super important and the philosophy is always the same: A lot of drops make an ocean, so you must find the most drops that you can.”

Aprilia's dream home weekend also included a new all-time MotoGP top speed record of 368.6km/h, set by Jorge Martin during final practice.

Despite the performance leap from Friday to Sunday, Sterlacchini said the RS-GP's set-up remained close to its normal baseline.

“Basically, in motorsport, in motorcycling, it's super important to find a good base and work around this good base,” he explained.

“Clearly, you have to [refine] the set-up a bit depending on the grip level that you have and also the layout of the track. Because a stop-and-go track clearly cannot be like here in Mugello.

“In the meantime, the [low] grip level that you have in Barcelona and, for example, Jerez, asks you to make some modifications on the bike.

“We arrived here having analysed the characteristics of this track and we tried to prepare in the best way possible and that was super important.”

Having won five of the first seven grands prix of the season, Aprilia has emerged as the manufacturer to beat in 2026.

Mugello winner Marco Bezzecchi and team-mate Martin lead the riders’ standings, while Aprilia also heads the constructors' and teams' standings.

Sterlacchini revealed that one of his key objectives since joining Aprilia has been to create a bike capable of performing at every circuit, even if that means accepting less performance at some tracks.

“One of my missions when I joined Aprilia was [to identify] the main ingredients to be competitive everywhere,” he said.

“So, we tried to work also from the perspective that we do not have to find something that is super extreme, super performing in [only] one track.

“We are working also to, let me say, accept some deficit. Because when the rider is facing a race where you are struggling in terms of grip level, in terms of competitiveness... the next races you think, I'm still strong or not?

“So, it's important to think from an overall perspective, to maintain this good balance of the bike.”

Bezzecchi heads to this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix with a 17-point championship lead over Martin.