RiderTua.com – After the first 3 MotoGP series of the 2024 season, two questions arise, is the Aprilia RS-GP now the best motorbike on the MotoGP track? Is Ducati in danger of losing its prestige as the most competitive motorbike in the premier class to fellow Italian manufacturer, Aprilia?
As far as the 2024 MotoGP season goes, from 6 races the score between Ducati and Aprilia is currently equal to 3-3 in terms of race wins. But the manufacturer from Bologna has 8 racers on the grid, while Aprilia only has 4. Momentum is certainly with the RS-GP which has successfully won 3 of the last 4 races thanks to Maverick Vinales.
Aprilia Boss: Our Bike is the Fastest in Qatar, Portimao and COTA
After Vinales’ perfect performance at COTA this weekend, including a remarkable comeback from 11th to 1st in Sunday’s main race, Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said, “Honestly, if we look at the numbers, the fastest bike in Qatar is the #41 (Aleix Espargaro). If we look at the numbers, the fastest bike at Portimao was #12 (Maverick Vinales, the fastest bike was again #12.”
After struggling to match Aleix Espargaro’s strong form during pre-season testing and the opening race in Qatar, Vinales suddenly found the balance he had been looking for at Portimao.
Massimo said that their motorbike was quite competitive. Because it’s not a production motorbike that always functions well on every track. We all push ourselves too hard. Finding the right spot is not easy. We’re on the right track, especially with Maverick clearly in the right position. “The team’s job is to keep the bike competitive,” said Rivola.
Vinales’ winning streak was only broken by a gearbox problem at the Portimao GP, while on course to secure a podium finish. Rivola admitted that reliability was clearly a crucial issue at Portimao. But when performance improved so quickly in recent years, there may have been less time to be consistent with reliability. That is the price to pay.
Rivola also revealed that Aprilia is working on further updates to its already impressive starting system. Aprilia will make another move at the end of the 2024 MotoGP season. They know what they are working on, and what can benefit the team. But all of that takes time. Because it’s not like plug-and-play. Aprilia needs a big job from test riders like Lorenzo Savadori, to do the job quickly, said Rivola.
Vinales is now in 3rd place in the world championship, 24 points behind leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) and 3 points behind Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo) who is in 3rd place. However, amazingly, Vinales managed to beat the two Desmosedici racers by a margin. 17 points in COTA alone.
Aleix Espargaro finished the race in 3rd place in the Qatar sprint race. He was considered the favorite for Sunday’s race before experiencing unexpected grip problems, now he is in 7th place with a gap of 17 points behind Maverick Vinales.
