Aprilia name "three areas” to hunt down Ducati as MotoGP's top team
Aprilia "trying to improve in three areas" to reduce gap to Ducati.
Marco Bezzecchi's victory in the British MotoGP gave Aprilia its first grand prix win since COTA last year.
It also helped move the Noale manufacturer up to third in the constructors’ standings, 17 points behind Honda, despite being without star signing Jorge Martin for all but the Qatar round.
Although Ducati has already broken 135 points clear at the top of the MotoGP constructors’ standings, the other four factories are covered by just 26 points in the battle to be best of the rest.
“Our goal, of course, is trying to reduce the gap to Ducati and to pass [them],” said Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori, currently replacing the injured Martin.
“So in Noale, we work really hard for this. And I think at the moment we are the second [best] manufacturer in the championship, on the grid. But we need to continue to improve.”
Aprilia name three areas to close gap to Ducati
Aprilia is the only brand other than Ducati with a dry win so far this season.
However, Honda has more grand prix podiums courtesy of Johann Zarco winning in the wet at Le Mans then finishing second to Bezzecchi at Silverstone.
Yamaha was a dry runner-up at Jerez, alongside three pole positions for Fabio Quartararo, while KTM was denied a second place for Maverick Vinales in Qatar due to a tyre pressure penalty.
Asked how Aprilia plans to close the gap to Ducati, which won 22 grands prix in a row from Jerez 2024-2025, Savadori highlighted three areas:
“In general, we work on the stability, on the braking and also on acceleration. So it's trying to improve a bit in these three areas.”
That involves Savadori testing new parts during grand prix events, a process that will continue at Aragon this weekend.
“We have some new things on my bike to improve and also on Monday there is a lot of work to do in the test,” he said.
“I can't explain the new things, but something is simpler to [see] on the bike and something is quite impossible, but especially in the testing we have a big different solution.”
The latest medical update on Martin’s condition suggests he could be absent for another month, even without the ongoing contractual stalemate over a 2026 exit clause.
“I hope, and Aprilia hope, Jorge will return soon,” Savadori said of his ongoing race role. “When he is well physically.
“I can't wait to see, of course, Jorge riding our bike. At the moment, the program is to replace Jorge, but try new things. So do a race, but also testing in all these races.”
The latest Aprilia developments appear to include a Ducati-style ride-height device, which can be ‘booked’ by the rider on the entry to a corner, then lowers ‘automatically’ on the exit.
Bezzecchi's victory moved the Italian to seventh in the riders' world championship with LCR Honda's Johann Zarco (fifth) the only non-Ducati ahead of him.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
