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Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team, Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing Team
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Analysis

The revolution behind Aprilia's rise from MotoGP tail-ender to pack-leader

Coinciding with the arrival of Massimo Rivola as head of its MotoGP division, Aprilia has undergone an internal revolution that has spurred it from occupying last place in the team standings to leading the table in the space of just two years. Those entrenched in the project reveal how the ex-Ferrari F1 chief has achieved the dramatic turnaround

At the end of 2018, Aprilia announced the addition of a figure coming from Ferrari's Formula 1 team, with a view to the following season. Massimo Rivola played different roles at the Scuderia, most notably the position of sporting director that he held between 2009 and 2016, before going on to head the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Through him passed the reports that gave the definitive boost to Charles Leclerc's rise to F1. Rivola's signing for the most popular racing arm of the Piaggio group had a restorative effect on a structure that was until then going from displeasure to displeasure, a situation aggravated by the doping sanction imposed on Andrea Iannone in 2019.

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