Marco Bezzecchi
As concerns grow over Aprilia’s delay in unveiling and testing their 2027 850cc bike, Massimo Rivola has called for patience.
A lot of the talk surrounding Aprilia this season has to do with the in-team rivalry between Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin.
Both riders sit atop the championship standings with just four points between them, as Aprilia brace for a tense title race between their two riders.
Can Marco Bezzecchi overcome Jorge Martin at Aprilia in the MotoGP title race this season?
Massimo Rivola believes Martin has an edge in the title race over his teammate. This might be a cause for concern, given Martin’s imminent move to Yamaha next season.
However, not enough has been made about Aprilia not putting their 850cc bike for next season on track, in comparison to other MotoGP teams.
READ MORE: Massimo Rivola thinks Aprilia’s main in-race ‘advantage’ over Ducati may only be ‘temporary’
Massimo Rivola claims Aprilia don’t want to ‘reveal their cards’ by putting 2027 bike on track
Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing, told Motorsport Italy that the team are not in a rush to bring their 2027 bike to track just yet.
Rivola confirmed that Aprilia are still focused on their 2027 bike, but want to keep their cards close to the vest. Furthermore, the team are confident in their ‘time to market’ upon conceptualising their plan.
“We’re definitely not in a hurry — and not because we don’t care about 2027. Simply put, we’re not in a rush.
“After the Jerez [race] week, in a private test, we’ll start running the 2027 bike on track, but it’s more of a hybrid prototype to gather some data on engine management and correlation with the dyno.
“We’re not in a hurry partly because we don’t want to reveal our cards, but also because one of Aprilia’s strengths today is – let’s say it in a cool way – ‘time to market’.
“From the moment we have an idea to when we put it on track, we’re very fast. That’s one of the secrets of performance in anything: speed in decision-making and execution.”
READ MORE: Massimo Rivola pinpoints exactly where ’sensitive’ Marco Bezzecchi still needs to improve
Will Jorge Martin regret leaving Aprilia to join Yamaha?
Massimo Rivola says Aprilia want to preserve ‘technological leadership’ with 2027 bike
Speaking further in the interview, Rivola claimed that Aprilia are always confident about their ability to construct a winning bike, and this year is no different.
This is why Aprilia are focused on putting their bike on track when they’re confident in it, as they don’t want to rush and lose the technological gap they’ve built over other teams.
“Every year, I’ve always said our best bike would be the next one, simply because I’ve always seen a growing company. And if the company grows, the result – our bike – will inevitably be better than the previous year.
“It will have a different importance because we’ll simply have a smaller fairing to work with. But I’m one of those who believes it will still be extremely important.
“We clearly want to maintain our technological leadership in this area, so it’s about having the courage to keep inventing something that can bring results – and maybe be transferred to production bikes.”
For a team like Aprilia, their pride in their work is paramount to their success. At one point, Aprilia mechanics were ashamed during race weekends upon seeing their gap to other teams.
But now, as they sit comfortably at the top of the MotoGP standings, Aprilia are not going to rush their work just to keep pace or keep up appearances compared to other teams.
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