The health crisis and the confinement that followed were not good news for an Aprilia factory which had decided, in 2020, to launch a brand new engine, the heart of a brand new motorcycle. This unique RS-GP therefore needs to be driven, which is exactly what the pandemic has prohibited. Romano Albesiano, who is in the technical direction of this adventure of the Noale firm in MotoGP, explains the consequences, nevertheless with a positive outlook on the future...
Factory Aprilia started with good intentions in this year 2020 which revealed a RS GP promising. Completely reconsidered, the opus features a new V4 engine with a cylinder angle of 90 degrees. The bike made its debut during winter testing in Malaysia and later completed the test in Qatar. Then confinement arrived, preventing Noale's men from becoming a little more accustomed to their new equipment.
Thereupon came the decision of the technical freeze until 2022. So many parameters that must be taken into account on the part of Roman Albesian, at the heart of the technical part at Aprilia : “ this year we were punished. We built a completely new engine and were only able to test a little bit of it. Now we had to freeze development. This season could be critical for us ».
Goal 2021
However, Aprilia is like KTM, in a situation that allows him to still work on his motorcycle until June 29. A short deadline, but it's still a long shot. “ This will probably be an advantage for us and for the other company which also benefits from the concessions during the 2021 season. We can continue to develop the engine. I hope this will be an advantage ", recognize Albesian.
« However, we are still working on some parts of the engine. So we had to decide on a few solutions and hope it works that way. The situation is not ideal for us. I hope it will be much better next year », concludes the Italian who prefers to work in serenity rather than in urgency…
