What a turnaround in just 12 months
12 months ago Aprilia had not gone beyond two sixth places with Marco Bezzecchi (Ogura was fifth in Thailand on his MotoGP debut) in the first three races of the season in which Jorge Martin had not even taken to the track due to injuries suffered before the start of the season (and the ‘boil’ related to Martinator’s discontent, who wanted to move to Honda as early as 2026, had yet to burst).
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Today, however, the Noale-based manufacturer dominates MotoGP with three GP victories, four in total including Martin’s in the Texas Sprint, and twice there were two 1-2 finishes with Bezzecchi ahead of Martin in both Brazil and the United States, the latter a race where an all-Aprilia podium could have even happened if Ogura’s irresistible charge hadn’t been cut short by a technical problem.
“At the moment I feel like saying that Aprilia is the reference bike. Perhaps we are not used to hearing this, but as of today the numbers say so“ said CEO Massimo Rivola and objectively the numbers are ‘Ducati-like’: Bezzecchi and Martin are first and second in the Riders’ World Championship, with Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura respectively sixth and seventh behind Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marc Marquez. In the Constructors’ standings, Aprilia looks down on everyone with 101 points against Ducati’s 69, and in the team standings, the Noale factory team is first with 158 points followed by the Trackhouse satellite team which has 77, the same as the KTM factory team.
In a month, MotoGP will return to the track with the European season and one of the paddock clichés usually says “The championship starts at Jerez”, but in the meantime, Ducati’s long-awaited fightback in Texas did not materialize; on the contrary, Aprilia swept everything except pole position, even with tires whose casing is not unpalatable to the Desmosedici. We are not facing an April Fool’s joke, but a hammerhead shark ready to devour everything in the MotoGP aquarium.
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