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Aprilia faces a big challenge in 2025. Yesterday, unfortunately, the season did not get off to the best possible start due to the crashes and injuries of Jorge Martìn and Raul Fernandez, who have already returned to Europe to have surgery and get back on the bike as soon as possible. But this will obviously not stop the work that the team is doing in Sepang and we talked about this with Paolo Biasio, Development Team Technical Manager for Aprilia. The interview was done before both riders crashed, but the work plan is clear.
"For a few months in Aprilia I have been in the role of technical manager of the development team. I know the development program, our future goals, the material that will arrive or that has already arrived."
What will you focus on here in Sepang?
"Logically, each point of development has a different priority, so also according to the rider who has to test, Savadori will have some goals, the factory riders will have others, so the material is divided according to priorities, the characteristics of the track, also the development time of various components.So we have priorities to deliberate some aspects before others, which maybe can be introduced even at the last moment, and all this generates a very precise test program and test schedule."
Can you be more specific or is that too much? For Martìn for example, what are you working on?
"He has a seat of his own that we customized, then when he got on the bike he was immediately comfortable, so we targeted the ergonomics. Now we will also test it here in Sepang, we designed a completely new bike for 2025, which the riders have already tasted in Barcelona, not in all the components, however in a large part yes. We have developed the bike in all areas, in all aspects, trying to improve the previous version, the work will continue in this regard. The new riders also have to, so to speak, get used to the new bike. Then in any case they are both new riders, they start from a blank sheet of paper, so they have to sew the bike onto themselves, familiarize themselves with the bike, to bring out that last percentage that is what makes you make the results."
Between the RS-GP24 and the 25, what is interchangeable?
"Obviously the size of the engine we assume is identical, but the frame is different, the swingarm is different, the fairing is different. The engine doesn't go on the 24, the aerodynamics have changed, the frame has changed, the swingarm mounts on the 2024, however, there is already an evolution for the 25, so unfortunately with modern MotoGP bikes we can't do anything but work on every detail 360 degrees on everything. We cannot focus on one aspect. Then clearly the riders test things, as happened in Barcelona, and they give us priorities for them and we focus on those."
What priority did Martìn and Bezzecchi give you and is the priority the same between the two?
"Yes, they made the same comments both as merits and as possible areas where it is possible to improve, so they gave us a very precise indication and in fact we arrived here with a test program parallel to the normal development of activities focused on some particular aspects. We can say that our goal will be to improve corner exit, the acceleration of corner exit. We then need to improve a little bit on corner exit stability and behavior in that particular phase. Otherwise, both riders were very impressed with the bike, including the engine, shifting, downshifting, electronic management, aerodynamics, they have already done some experiments to understand the sensitivity in some areas rather than others and they gave us their priorities. But that's normal, any rider will always have one point to improve over another."
For 2027, how are you doing with the transition from the 1000 engine to the 850 engine?
"It's not a small decrease, so the engine will be smaller, you don't save the cylinders, you probably don't even save the crankcases. In the end you don't save the gearbox, because then there is a little bit less power anyway. The development has reached such a level of sophistication that they will have to make a new engine. The 2027 bike is completely new, you don't save a screw. It is a completely new design, for all the Manufacturers it will be a titanic task, because in the meantime you have to develop the bike you are racing with for the areas where it is allowed and at the same time make a completely new design, nothing will be saved."
Engines will be frozen in 2026, so basically this is the last year you will be able to develop the engine 100 percent.
"Yes, the whole engine part is punched under the development restriction. In the meantime we have already started with the new project, so we will go on in parallel. As a result, there will always be a lot of work for us."
You are working relentlessly on aerodynamics, what is the area you focus on most?
"It is always a mix and I have to say that when you think there is nothing left to invent, someone invents something so I have a hard time telling you what will be invented next."
