Despite severe setbacks in winter testing and the first half of the season, and the grueling conflict with the chronically injured Jorge Martin over a strange exit clause for 2026, Aprilia has collected some great results over the past few weeks with Marco Bezzecchi and satellite rider Raúl Fernández, who scored podiums at the last two MotoGP sprints and won the Australian GP yesterday in amazing style.
And it's impossible not to praise the determined Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola, who, despite coming from Formula 1, has done a lot right from the very first day of his arrival in Noale, despite having the smallest budget of all MotoGP manufacturers, as the factory team never attracted a deep-pocketed main sponsor like Ducati, Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and KTM, and he faced obstacles from day one in Noale.
On Rivola's first day at work in January 2019, engine designer Mario Manganelli ended his tenure at Noale and moved to Formula 1 with Mercedes. In addition, Aprilia lacked a competitive test rider, had no customer team, and didn't even have two MotoGP seats of its own.
After the ‘Cube’, Aprilia returned to MotoGP in 2015 with a...Superbike
Because former Aprilia owner Ivano Beggio withdrew from MotoGP after the 2004 season with the three-cylinder Cube in view of the impending bankruptcy, despite a five-year contract, and never paid his contractual penalty to Dorna, Aprilia was the only manufacturer not granted its own slots when Aprilia returned to MotoGP in 2015. The factory was forced to enter a joint venture with team owner Fausto Gresini, who had lost sponsor Go & Fun and was therefore unable to continue operating his Honda MotoGP team. The cooperation was planned to last for four years, and was extended to an additional 3 years.
Aprilia began the 2015 MotoGP season with a slightly modified Superbike ridden by Bautista and Melandri, but the Italian would have preferred to compete for the Superbike World Championship title and performed listlessly until he was replaced by Michael Laverty at the German Grand Prix. Starting at the next race in Indianapolis, Stefan Bradl rode the Aprilia RS-GP. He had ridden for the LCR Honda team from 2012 to 2014 for three years and joined Forward Yamaha until team owner Cuzari had been put in jail in July 2015. Bradl immediately impressed Team prinzipal Romano Albesiano. As a result, Moto2 Gresini rider Sam Lowes, who had been promised an Aprilia MotoGP contract for 2016, was postponed until 2017. Brad also shared the garage with Bautista in 2016. The new "full factory prototype" was run for the first time at the Doha test shortly before the start of the season. The new MotoGP factory engine had only been tested after Christmas 2015 and, in 2016, still had several teething issues – lacking power and durability.
Two new Aprilia riders, Aleix Espargaró and Sam Lowes, joined for 2017, but their results left much to be desired. Alex finished 15th in the World Championship with 62 points, while Lowes finished 25th, and only collected 5 points due to numerous crashes. Bautista and Bradl finished the 2016 World Championship in 12th and 16th place, with 82 and 63 points, respectively.
The problem with Aprilia test riders
2018 saw Aleix Espargaró and Scott Redding's fortunes continue to decline: Aleix (44 points) never climbed beyond 17th place in the World Championship, while Redding (20 points) plummeted to 21st.
Aprilia failed hire convincing test riders for years; Mike di Meglio and Matteo Baiocco were overwhelmed by the task. It wasn't until 2021 that Andrea Dovizioso, thanks to Rivola, made several appearances, followed by Lorenzo Savadori, but rival KTM put in a much greater effort with test riders like Dani Pedrosa, Jonas Folger, and Pol Espargaró.
But with Rivola and the rider pairing Aleix Espargaró and Andrea Iannone, things started to look up again in 2019, but even in 2020 the successes remained limited: Aleix Espargaró and Bradley Smith did not get beyond 14th and 16th place in the World Championship.
Smith took over after “The Maniac” was banned for 1.5 years for a doping offense. Iannone and Aprilia appealed against this 18-month doping ban, but apparently the lawyers acted quite amateurishly – because the suspension was extended to a totally unexpected four years. The 30-year-old Italian was provisionally suspended December 2020 by the FIM testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid at the Malaysia Grand Prix. But the World Anti-Doping Agency asked for the ban to be extended and the Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed. Iannone, who had a contract with Aprilia until the end of the 2020 season, said he tested positive because he ingested the banned substance accidentally through contaminated meat in Asia. However, the CAS panel found that Iannone had established "neither the precise type of meat he had consumed nor the origin of the said meat".
Aprilia and the importance of understanding aerodynamics
Rivola analysed Ducati's strengths and strengthened the Aprilia team with top-notch aerodynamicists from Formula One before Honda and Yamaha realized the important role aero bodies play in the modern MotoGP class. The new racing director gradually put Aprilia's MotoGP project on a more stable footing. The 2021 RS-GP already featured significantly more engine power, with Aleix Espargaró finishing third at Silverstone, losing only 4.1 seconds to winner Fabio Quartararo. He finished eighth in the World Championship and secured the Noale-based brand's first MotoGP victory at Silverstone in 2022. The Spanish veteran fought against Bagnaia and Quartararo for the title, but fell back to fourth place in the finish. As a result, Aprilia lost its concessions.
As Aprilia's performance continued to improve, Rivola made an interesting proposal to energy drink giant Red Bull. "Red Bull could support Aprilia as a second MotoGP team alongside KTM, like Alpha Tauri does in Formula 1."
But there was a refusal from Austria, as Red Bull returned as a sponsor of Tech3 in 2023. And at Repsol Honda, Red Bull paid 30 percent of the advertising space until Marc Márquez's departure.
Aprilia's faith in Raul Fernandez ultimately paid off
Starting with the 2021 Aragon GP, Maverick Viñales, who had been dismissed from Yamaha after the Spielberg GP, joined the Aprilia Factory Team, while Savadori had to settle for a test rider role again. Viñales already achieved eighth place in his fourth Aprilia outing at Misano, just behind Aleix Espargaró. Maverick finished the 2022 World Championship in tenth place, and seventh behind Aleix in 2023, before making headlines in 2024 by winning in Texas with the RS-GP – becoming the first rider to win in MotoGP on three different manufacturers (Suzuki, Yamaha, and Aprilia).
In 2023, MotoGP team owner Razlan Razali signed a contract with Aprilia following the withdrawal of sponsors Petronas and WithU; he fielded Rául Fernández and Miguel Oliveira in the new Crypto Data customer team. For 2024, the team was taken over by Trackhouse-Aprilia team boss Justin Marks after the Valencia GP.
And after two podium finishes in the sprints at Mandalika and Phillip Island, Rául Fernández triumphed yesterday at the Australian GP with a flawless lights-to-flag victory in the style of a true champion.
There was never any doubt about Rául Fernández's riding abilities; for years, he was considered a potential new Marc Márquez, not least because, with eight victories in his first Moto2 season with the Red Bull Moto2-Ajo team, he had achieved one more victory than the #93 in its first year in the middleweight class.
But with Tech3-KTM, Raúl only scored 14 points in his rookie MotoGP season and was traded to Razali's RNF-Aprilia team after a disappointing 22nd place in the World Championship. Massimo Rivola always believed in Fernández's abilities, even after he finished 16th in his third MotoGP season in 2024.
And now Aprilia and Rivola are reaping the rewards of their collaboration.
Aprilia today: a completely new lineup with Martin and Bezzecchi
But the 2025 MotoGP season has started anything but well for Aprilia Racing which entered with a completely new riders line-up consisting of world champion Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi for the 2025 factory team. For the customer team Trackhouse, alongside Raúl Fernández, there was new Moto2 world champion Ai Ogura, who replaced veteran Miguel Oliveira after two years.
The setbacks for Aprilia began in February, when Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raúl Fernández was forced to withdraw from the Sepang MotoGP test for a second year running. A crash early on during the opening day of collective running wrote off Fernández's Aprilia RS-GP and left the rider himself with what was quickly confirmed as a fractured metacarpal in his left hand and a fractured little toe in his left foot. While the toe was of little concern in terms of being fit to ride, the hand fracture meant Fernández had to withdraw from the rest of the test.
And then came the disastrous start to the Aprilia career of Ducati defector Jorge Martin, whose nightmare began in February's Sepang pre-season test. He suffered a highside crash that left him with a broken right hand.
Just weeks later, disaster struck again, this time in training. Another crash left him with a fractured left hand, ruling him out of the Thailand season opener and the first four rounds of the championship.
Jorge Martin's injury odyssey
But the worst was yet to come. Martín returned to the grid at the Qatar Grand Prix, but endured a terrifying crash on lap 14. After hitting the deck on the outside kerb, he was struck by Fabio Di Giannantonio's bike, resulting in a collapsed lung and eleven broken ribs.
During his convalescence, Martin threatened in May that he would end his two-year contract with Aprilia after one season. Only in July did he capitulate under pressure from Dorna, settling the dispute at the German Grand Prix and pledging that he would continue to ride for the Noale-based factory in 2026. Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta had previously made it clear that he would not tolerate any breach of contract, not even by Acosta, who wanted to leave the financially struggling KTM factory – despite a contract running until the end of 2026.
"We will not accept the registration in the world championship of any rider who is not free, either through a judge's ruling or through having reached an agreement with the other party," Ezpeleta said in Assen. The Spaniard had already informed GPOne.com about his intentions at the Mugello GP.
The backstory: At Mugello 2024, Jorge Martin manager Albert Valera realized that Ducati would not keep its verbal promise and would instead promote Marc Márquez to the Lenovo factory team in 2025. Valera therefore approached Honda for a 2025 contract, but Aprilia factory rider Alex Espargaró persuaded Massimo Rivola to quickly make the Spanish title contender a bid and lure him to Noale. While the HRC offer was significantly more lucrative financially than Aprilia's, Martin knew that the Japanese RC213V was clearly technically inferior to the Aprilia RS-GP. And he wanted to prove to Ducati that they had backed the wrong horse with the #93.
Like Valentino Rossi when he switched from Honda to Yamaha after 2003, the future world champion wanted to demonstrate on the racetrack in 2025 with the RS-GP that it was the rider, not the bike, that made the difference.
The clause of disagreement between Aprilia and Martin
Valera and Martín had a clause added to the contract that would possibly provide him with an escape route for the 2026 MotoGP season. Activating that clause seemed simple: If after the first six races of the season he was not among the top five in the standings, he would be free to sign with Honda – and only Honda.
A similar clause had already helped JM to get out of a KTM MotoGP contract for 2021 and enabled his transfer from the Moto2 Red Bull KTM Ajo team to Pramac Ducati.
A few days before the deadline (May 31st) Aprilia informed Martín that it considered the clause invalid since his injury had kept him from participating in any races up to that point. Martin travelled to Le Mans to notify Aprilia that he was activating the clause nonetheless. He also met with Ezpeleta, who made it clear once more he would not accept the move and that Martin had to stick to the two-year deal he had signed.
In the meantime Jorge Martin has experienced a disastrous first season with Aprilia. The number 1 has only scored 34 points so far, he is running 21st in the standings – just in front of KTM replacement rider Pol Espargaró.
Martín sustained his fourth major injury of 2025 after a crash in the Motegi sprint race. The Aprilia MotoGP rider Jorge Martín had to undergo a surgery on the collarbone he broke during a nasty opening-lap crash in the Japanese Grand Prix sprint. The 2024 MotoGP World Champion is hoping for a comeback at the Sepang GP on the upcoming weekend.
In the meantime Aprilia has collected great results with Marco Bezzecchi and satellite rider Raúl Fernández, who scored to podiums at the last two MotoGP sprints and won the Australian GP yesterday in an amazing style.
A few months ago, at the height of the dispute between Jorge Martín and Aprilia, Piaggio CEO Michele Colaninno speculated that Piaggio would withdraw from the MotoGP World Championship. A scenario vehemently denied by Rivola.
It remains to be hoped that Michele will sign a new five-year MotoGP contract with Dorna and Liberty Media. This would be entirely in keeping with the spirit of his father, Roberto, who pushed for the MotoGP comeback in 2015 because he wanted to prove to the renegade Gigi Dall'Igna that success in the "premier class" could also be achieved in Noale.
In the Constructors' World Championship, Aprilia has settled into second place with 345 points, but Ducati has collected 671 points and won this classification for the sixth time in a row, as well as the Riders' World Championship for the fourth time since 2022.
During the 2025 season there even was a sprint race at Le Mans, where the six Ducati riders conquered all six positions! Ducati also regularly takes home titles and victories in the Superbike and Supersport World Championships, and from 2023 to 2025 the one make motorcycles named Ducati V21L were built in Borgo Panigale for the MotoE World Championship.
While Ducati didn't dominate as much in 2025 as in the past, they lost three top riders after the 2024 season in Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini and their best team, Pramac.
Honda has won one MotoGP race this year, Aprilia two, and Ducati, with Marc Márquez (11), Alex Márquez (2), Bagnaia (2), and Aldeguer, has clinched a total of 16 wins. In the World Championship standings, all six Ducati MotoGP riders are holdings positions in the top eight.
While Rivola's development work deserves considerable respect, Gigi Dall'Igna remains the undisputed number 1.
Since arriving at Ducati exactly twelve years ago, the General Manager of Ducati Corse has transformed a derided latecomer into an unprecedented serial winner.
With a wealth of sporting political acumen, boundless expertise, endless innovative ideas, a brilliant sense of rider qualities, and a huge heart, as demonstrated by his courageous signing of deserving returnees like Iannone and Petrucci.