During the two meetings in Austria, Takahiro Sumi (Yamaha MotoGP Group leader), Davide Barana (Ducati Corse Technical Director), Takeo Yokoyama (HRC Technical Manager), Ken Kawauchi (Team Suzuki Ecstar Technical Manager), Wolfgang Felber (KTM Head of Chassis Development) and Romano Albesiano (Aprilia Racing Technical Manager) therefore gave an update to the press.
Today we chose to start with Romano Albesiano, Aprilia Racing Technical Manager, at a time when Aprilia is shining brilliantly under the cameras with the podium ofAleix Espargaró at Silverstone and the promising recruitment of Maverick Vinales.
As usual, we report in full and without any formatting the comments of the person concerned made in a teleconference broadcast on the official website MotoGP.com.
It seems obvious that the greatest progress made by MotoGP in 2021 is to the credit of Aprilia and its RS-GP. How proud are you of the step forward made this year?
Roman Albesian : " I'm really proud. We achieved a good level of performance on almost all circuits. We focused on some weaknesses we had in the past and I would say we have 90% of them resolved. For stable development in the future. »
It indeed seems that Aprilia has a base that works on almost all circuits. How difficult was this to achieve, and how crucial is it to developing the bike further?
« I think this is fundamental for the future. It's clear ! For example, we made major changes to the engine, for layout reasons, not directly related to performance or power, but we had to do it. So every time you make a big change, you take one step forward… But sometimes you take two steps back. In the end, we managed to keep more or less the same level in terms of engine performance. Maybe we lost something, but what we lost made the pilot's action even easier. This is perhaps one of the reasons for our improvement, and finally, we have two or three seasons ahead of us without major changes to the bike, and we know that the performance of a racing bike comes from refinement, generally not from the revolution. So I'm quite optimistic for the future. »
How do you see the technical regulations evolving for the next five-year period of MotoGP, starting in 2027?
« I hope that now that we have reached a good level of performance, there will not be a revolution that would force us to start from scratch (laughs). But whatever happens, it is clear that we are in the middle of a revolution, that of carbon neutrality, which will affect industry and motorsport. I hope that in the near future this will affect motorsport in an intelligent way, for example with the use of ecofuel, a carbon neutral gasoline, for conventional engines, without starting to use electric or hybrid systems which would raise costs wildly and make things harder for everyone. »
The health crisis is now more than a year and a half old: How much has it affected development? Do you think that development should still be frozen next year?
« Yes, we are still affected by this situation: Sometimes there are people who have to stay at home in quarantine and sometimes we almost have to close certain departments. It's still a problem! I hope that with mass vaccination increasing rapidly in Europe, and around the world, this thing will be resolved within a year. I hope so ! »
Massimo Rivola explained to us that a number of engineers had joined Aprilia, coming from multiple places: Suzuki, Ducati, McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes, etc. Was it difficult to get everyone working together?
« Some of these people returned to Aprilia after leaving the company years ago. So we're partly talking about people who grew up at Aprilia and are now coming back. There are certain difficulties because in general people who come from the world of cars have a different mentality. I've experienced this kind of situation for 30 years, so it's always the same story (smiles) but we have intelligent people who immediately understood the difficulties of developing a motorcycle. Generally, people who come from cars think that they are much more complicated than motorcycles, but in many ways this is not true: It's the opposite! We are therefore very happy that the mix of these cultures is super positive for the company: We have really taken a big step forward in terms of the strength of the group in the last two years. It is very impressive ! »
You are the only manufacturer to have developed a new motorcycle in recent years. This implies that your aerodynamic package has not been added to an existing motorcycle. Is this an advantage?
«Wow! Difficult ! (Laughs)! I don't have a clear answer. We had to do what we did. We had no choice but to take a big leap to reach the level we have now. When you see the presentation of an aerodynamic package, normally there have already been tests previously, such as adding fins to old motorcycles. So we had information before the new bike that debuted this season. »
But when you define a motorcycle, you take into consideration the three points, the engine, the chassis and the aerodynamics, right?
« In recent years, engineers have become more aware of the importance of aerodynamics on the overall balance of the motorcycle, and this has become increasingly important thanks to the fins that appeared on motorcycles and which created downforce. more significant aerodynamics. It's not that aerodynamic forces weren't there before: They were there but often we weren't fully aware of their importance. So now the general knowledge of the design group has progressed in terms of overall understanding of dynamics, mechanics and aerodynamics. »
You did tests with Andrea Dovizioso but he will not ride for you next year. What would be more useful for Aprilia in 2022: An experienced rider or a young talent?
« If I'm not mistaken, Aleix Espargaró is the oldest MotoGP rider after Valentino Rossi (laughs), so it wouldn't really be perfect to have two old MotoGP riders! But it's a joke! Of course, if Dovizioso would like to join our racing team, we would consider it very seriously (editor's note: The rest is history...). Regardless, recent MotoGP news seems very favorable to young riders, so having an experienced rider and a young rider would be very good. I don't know if I answered your question (laughs). »
Is working on fuel important for performance development?
« This year we started a cooperation with Castrol BP which is very good: They support us fantastically and carry out continuous development regarding gasoline and oil. This is part of the progress we have made this year in terms of performance, so we believe this collaboration can be very fruitful in the future. »
