Massimo Rivola, at Aprilia Racing, reveals the secret of the team’s and company’s growth. In 2023 the goal will be the world title.
Aprilia is certainly one of the surprises of the 2022 MotoGP season. Aleix Espargarò gave the Venetian company the first victory in the premier class in the Termas de Rio Hondo GP, as well as five podiums, the last one in Aragon in September. Until then, the Granollers rider seemed one step away from his world dream, only 17 points dividing him from classification leader Fabio Quartararo, then something went wrong.
Starting with a mapping error made inside the garage during the race at Motegi. An inexplicable slip followed by technical problems on the Aprilia RS-GP and that sent the veteran Espargarò into a rage. Finally, the engine problem in the last round in Valencia also made him lose third place in the final standings, which ended up in the hands of the Ducati rider Aeneas Bastianini. However, it remains a season to frame for the Noale-based brand which, until a year ago, would not have thought of getting to race for the World Championship.
Massimo Rivola’s trump card
Much of the credit goes to the expert Aleix Espargarò, in his sixth season astride the Noale prototype. Another percentage of credit goes to the CEO. Massimo Rivola, landed in 2019, which shrugged off several tasks from Romano Albesiano, who was able to devote himself to the technical part. “I told him he didn’t have to worry about organizational issues, sports management and drivers – tells the former F1 engineer to Speedweekc.om -. This took up a lot of his time“.
Once the roles were well defined, Massimo Rivola brought in new engineers with strong motorsport experience to Aprilia, who contributed to the development of the RS-GP. The arrival of Maverick Vinales also served to spur Aleix Espargarò and, starting next season, there will be two more riders with the satellite team RNF extension: Miguel Oliveira and Rail Fernandez. It will be a four-pronged Aprilia, with which to try to achieve that nuanced dream in the last part of 2022.
The secret of this small success? “I think we’re faster now because we’re just a better company. It’s no secret that we’ve been hiring new people since they’ve been with the company. Many come directly from university, but there are also profiles more experienced in MotoGP and Formula 1“, concluded Rivola. “We didn’t do anything special… Aleix has a tattoo that reads “Believe in yourself“. This reflects our philosophy very well.
