On Monday, Aprilia made the biggest transfer in its MotoGP history. With Jorge Martin, they have secured the services of the currently strongest MotoGP rider from 2025. However, the project also faces the major task of providing the world championship leader with a competitive package. Since entering MotoGP in 2015, Aprilia has laboriously worked its way to the top of the premier class, but they were never a real title contender. The decisive factors were always missing. They have now remedied one of these factors.
In the first years of Aprilia MotoGP history, the Italians always had a hard time. The bike was not competitive and was consistently found at the back of the field. Even experienced MotoGP riders like Marco Melandri, Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista had great difficulty getting the RS-GP into the points. Even after the arrival of Aleix Espargaro in 2017, nothing changed. The Catalan gradually lost motivation and looked around for other options. He even considered ending his career prematurely.
It was not until 2021 that the selfless work of the Noale factory and its pilots first bore fruit. At Silverstone, they celebrated the first MotoGP podium with Aleix Espargaro. After that, Aprilia continued to improve, took its first victory in 2022 and secured further podium finishes to give it a real chance in the World Championship battle against Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia. In the second half of the season, however, they were unable to match these performances and also made mistakes, such as in Japan, when Espargaro was sent into the race in fuel-saving mode.
In the last two years, Aprilia has become a real competitor to Ducati and KTM at the top. In certain situations, such as poor grip conditions, the RS-GP is even considered the MotoGP reference, keeping the Desmosedici and the RC16 at bay. But that is also where Aprilia’s problem lies. They have a strong bike, but it rarely reaches its full potential.
The same applies to the team’s MotoGP riders. With all due respect to Maverick Vinales, Aleix Espargaro & Co, who are great racing drivers, are not able to consistently make the most of the RS-GP. Both have already shown great performances this season, while the other has been in the middle of the field. In Texas, for example, Vinales won both the sprint and the Grand Prix, while his teammate only came seventh. Espargaro came out on top at his home race in Barcelona, winning the sprint. Vinales, on the other hand, did not find his feet there at all and left Montmelo with a measly six points.
The solution to get the highly fluctuating performance under control is obvious: they need a real top rider who always manages to get 110% out of the material. This is the only way the Italians can fight for a world championship title. With Jorge Martin they have landed such a rider. The 26-year-old is a complete MotoGP rider, is extremely strong in qualifying, sprint and Grand Prix and has also gained experience in the world championship fight in 2023 and 2024, and may even come to Aprilia as the reigning world champion.
The ‘Martinator’ is moving from class leader Ducati to Noale. He brings valuable know-how and knows where and how the Desmosedici makes the difference. This means Aprilia has the best opportunity to finally reach for the stars in 2025.