After having been the Technical Director of the Piaggio Group, Romano Albesiano became Competition Director of Aprilia when Gigi Dall'Igna left for Ducati. Its debut was brilliant, with the title of Superbike World Champion obtained by Sylvain Guintoli.
Albesiano began his racing career in 1989 at Cagiva, being the company's GP 500 project manager. He then moved to Fondmetal Technologies where he was responsible for aerodynamic development, carrying out research for example for AMG Mercedes in the German DTM championship.
From 1997 to 2205, he was project manager at MV Agusta and then, within the same company, responsible for development and competition for the Husqvarna brand. We then found him at Piaggio, where he was responsible for the technical development of Moto Guzzi, Aprilia and Derbi.
It was he who encouraged Aprilia to join MotoGP, taking advantage of the CRT (Claiming Rule Team) regulations in 2012 by supplying ART (Aprilia Racing Technology) close to the RSV4 SBK to the Aspar, Paul Bird Motorsport and Speed Master teams, then IodaRacing Project next. Since 2015, he has led the RS-GP entry, which is progressing little by little, but without yet any big, spectacular leap forward in terms of results.
“In MotoGP we get very good results in terms of bike performance, believes Albesiano. It is true that we have not yet managed to translate into results the speed that the RS-GP expressed, but the important part has been done: we know that the performance is there.
“We are satisfied with Aleix Espargarò. He gets along well with the bike in general. Sam Lowes is not performing as well as we had hoped, but this year the standard is so high that it would be difficult for anyone to achieve it. He is a rookie and it is normal that he is struggling, because he has had little time to learn and keep up. Its biggest limitation is braking.
“The tires are now more important than the bike, so if you don't find the right way to use them, even if you have the best bike, you can't be fast. With our Aprilia the rear management is good, while we have to be more careful in terms of front tire wear. »
On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the investment gap between MotoGP and SBK?
“The ratio is 9 to 1. So MotoGP absorbs 90% of the company's resources and commitments, and SBK the remaining 10%. »
Photo and source: gpone.com
