Marco Bezzecchi
Aprilia became the second MotoGP team to launch their 2025 bike on Thursday morning. They followed satellite squad Trackhouse, who kicked off launch season on 14 January.
This was one of the biggest days in the pre-season calendar. Aprilia officially unveiled world champion Jorge Martin, their superstar signing from Pramac.
Martin took the bombshell decision to leave the Ducati stable after he lost out on a factory seat to Marc Marquez. Their loss is Massimo Rivola’s gain.
It’s an all-new line-up for the Noale outfit, with Marco Bezzecchi joining from VR46. He reignites his rivalry with Martin after losing out in their 2018 Moto3 title battle.
2024 rider Aleix Espargaro has retired from full-time racing and instead joins Honda in a test role. Teammate Maverick Vinales chose to leave for a spot at KTM satellite outfit Tech3.
Trackhouse channelled Suzuki with their new livery, a bold departure from last year. Aprilia have remained largely consistent, albeit with a greater emphasis on red paint as opposed to blue.
Aprilia adopt same seat aerodynamics as Trackhouse at 2025 MotoGP launch
Mat Oxley, an Isle of Man TT winner, was among those in attendance at the Aprilia launch. And he spotted an intriguing detail as he examined the RSGP25 up close.
Looking at Bezzecchi’s bike, he noticed that they were using the same ‘seat aero’ Trackhouse had sampled at last year’s Austrian Grand Prix. He hadn’t seen it on any bike since.
MotoGP teams don’t tend to display their bikes in their racing form during launch season. But Aprilia’s links to Trackhouse make this a noteworthy observation.
Aprilia are entering the post-Romano Albesiano era in 2024. Their technical director has left to join Honda, who finished bottom of last year’s championship.
How Jorge Martin’s arrival at Aprilia is set to impact Trackhouse in 2025
Trackhouse will field a youthful lineup in 2025. 24-year-old Raul Fernandez will be joined by Moto2 champion Ai Ogura, 23.
Fernandez is looking forward to viewing Martin’s data in the coming months. He expects to improve when he studies what the title holder is doing on the saddle.
Martin has chosen the number one plate, which instantly makes the RSGP25 an iconic bike. He’s only the second rider to use it since Casey Stoner in 2012, emulating Francesco Bagnaia.
With the two Aprilia teams ticked off, attention turns to rivals Ducati. The factory team, Gresini and VR46 will all pull the covers off their new bikes between 18 and 25 January.
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