Why 2021 is Aprilia's most important MotoGP season

The first two days of the Qatar MotoGP pre-season test for 2021 rather went to form in terms of who occupied the top of the timesheets, with Fabio Quartararo on the factory Yamaha proving - if anything – the M1 is still a good bike at Losail. And Ducati’s Jack Miller proved the GP21 is likely to once again be a victory contender come the Qatar Grand Prix.

And you could argue an Aprilia going strong in the Qatari desert is nothing new. Aleix Espargaro scored Aprilia’s joint-best ever MotoGP result of sixth on his debut for the marque in Qatar back in 2017, and last year was strong in the test there. But those results flattered to deceive, as Aprilia is still nowhere near showing the form it expected throughout those campaigns, ending 2020 last in the constructors' championship and failing to crack the top six all season.

So, can much be read into the fact Espargaro finished the first part of the Qatar test third overall, 0.212 seconds off the best pace, having topped the opening day of running?

The significance of the 2021 campaign is not lost on Aprilia. As part of cost-saving measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all non-concession manufacturers must use their 2020 engines this year. This means Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Ducati (KTM is now part of this group but was permitted to develop a new engine as it started 2020 as a concession team) haven’t been able to fundamentally redesign their motorcycles.

Aprilia is exempt from this, having been unable to come close to the podium results needed to lose concessions. But this means it has been able to rework its engine for 2021 and can continue to develop it through the season. The rest of the RS-GP has also been redesigned – evolution rather than revolution, but the changes according to Espargaro are significantly noticeable.

“Basically, the bike is not a revolution, but a lot of small details make the bike super different,” he said on Sunday in Qatar. “I did a race simulation to understand the bike and I expected another thing. So, we still have to work to understand how to find the balance because with this bike, due to the aerodynamic changes we did, the downforce is a lot higher.

“We improved a lot in acceleration. The new engine is a little bit more relaxed, a little bit smoother in the bottom part. So, it allows me to use higher power maps. Also, with the help of aerodynamics, I can accelerate a lot better than last year. But unfortunately, we lose a little bit of top speed, so we have to find the balance.”

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia RS-GP, Qatar pre-season test 2021

Photo by: Gold and Goose

Aprilia’s power shortage is still substantial, with Espargaro just over 10 km/h slower than Johann Zarco’s 2021 Ducati through the Losail speed trap. But the better acceleration is a definite step forward from last year, with Espargaro constantly complaining in 2020 by lacklustre punch from the corners forcing him to ride far too aggressively elsewhere on a lap to make up time.

Aprilia’s Formula 1-style front wing on its front fairing turned heads in 2020, but the rushed-in restriction on aero development due to the pandemic meant Aprilia was stuck with what technical director Romano Albesiano said was a “low downforce” aero kit the whole season. Originally designed to be updated, Aprilia’s new concept is more sophisticated to the point it cannot homologate its older version to use alongside the new one in 2021 because it simply won’t work. It’s the aero currently which is likely causing the biggest drain on top speed for Aprilia, but it will have time to better balance this over the final three days of testing this week.

Perhaps most significantly with the new RS-GP, it now comes under the minimum 157kg weight limit. Not only does this mean Espargaro can enjoy the odd bit of cake now, but Aprilia can also play with weight balance a bit more. And adding to the list of good improvements, a re-designed seat unit has altered the harmonics of the RS-GP to eliminate chatter.

“We improved a lot in acceleration. The new engine is a little bit more relaxed, a little bit smoother in the bottom part. So, it allows me to use higher power maps" Aleix Espargaro

So, it seems with the new RS-GP, age old problems of poor acceleration, chatter, weight and engine character have been addressed. However, Espargaro did note some work needs to be done in the corners, as he felt the RS-GP was “a lot heavier” than before – to the point for the first time ever he was “exhausted physically” on an Aprilia.

It’s hard to take much away from testing, especially at Qatar. The track is always a unique one on the calendar, and conditions last weekend were dusty and windy. But a decent-length long run on Sunday of mid-low 1m55s and the odd high 1m54s was pretty much on par with the strong pace shown by Quartararo and team-mate Maverick Vinales.

Again, it’s hard to contextualise this without everyone having done a race run, but the fact he did a race distance at that pace suggests another major step forward has been made: the bike is more reliable. Espargaro struggled to get any kind of distance out of last year’s RS-GP in testing before the engine suffered a problem, and when the season started Aprilia had to change a valve in its motor and run reduced revs. And it’s worth noting the RS-GP has been running since last November and the general feedback was the bike was also competitive at Jerez.

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia RS-GP, Qatar pre-season test 2021

Photo by: Gold and Goose

“I think we deserve it really,” Espargaro said when Autosport asked if 2021 was Aprilia’s most important season. “From the bottom of my heart I think we deserve a good year, we deserve to do maybe not the definitive step, but we deserve to fight with the best bikes, with the best riders on the grid. We struggled a little bit last season, but sincerely this year the bike looks better. After two days, very, very good lap times from everybody, we can say that we are in a good line, we are in a good shape. Still a long way to go till Valencia, but we are on the good way.”

Autosport asked Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola the same question pre-weekend and got a similar “yes” response.

There is a bit of snag which could hinder progress in 2021, though. Aprilia currently doesn’t have a test team. The decision to put Lorenzo Savadori onto a race seat over Bradley Smith – doing so for “company reasons”, but largely because Smith is a better tester – has left its test plans in purgatory. Smith isn’t present in Qatar and looks like he’s heading for the door. Travelling still isn’t easy because of COVID, so adding extra private test days for its race riders could be tricky. And then, if Aprilia does end up losing concessions, Espargaro and Savadori will no longer be able to privately test.

But Aprilia will never be afforded a better opportunity than 2021 to make a genuine step towards the front of the MotoGP grid, and after six years of toiling it really needs to start justifying its expenditure on a project that to the outsider looks like a failure. Though Rivola feels this assessment is unfair, it’s not unwarranted when you consider top talents in Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso, and exciting Moto2 stars Joe Roberts and Marco Bezzecchi, all turned down race seat offers.

However, Rivola rightly notes the addition of new partners like Castrol for 2021 is proof this project holds merit and believes “we are closer [to the front] than the world is seeing at the moment”.

But that is exactly why 2021 is important. The world needs to see genuine momentum from Aprilia because next year it becomes an official factory team. Currently it is a factory team but it is entered in conjunction with Gresini Racing – a move which allowed Aprilia to take profit of the financial boost independent teams received under its current agreement with Dorna Sports.

Lorenzo Savadori, Aprilia RS-GP, Qatar pre-season test 2021

Photo by: Gold and Goose

But Gresini Racing will return to independent status next year, and Aprilia will be a team in its own right. Not only does that mean more logistical responsibilities, but it also means it will need to effectively build a new race crew. If you want top talent to spanner your bikes, you need to make sure they are good bikes.

And on top of this, becoming a proper factory team means it can then look to add a satellite partner to its roster and this is something Aprilia very much wants to do – though is reticent to talk about its plans just yet given the recent death of Fausto Gresini.

“Carmelo gave us the month of May as a deadline to present the programme of official plus satellite,” Rivola revealed after the RS-GP’s launch last week. “I think there is also maybe one month - but not more than that - margin, also from the production point of view, to produce more stuff and organise the company in a bit of a different way.”

“From the bottom of my heart I think we deserve a good year, we deserve to do maybe not the definitive step, but we deserve to fight with the best bikes, with the best riders on the grid" Aleix Espargaro

With the likes of Petronas SRT and Tech3 already in discussion with Yamaha and KTM respectively about renewing their deals for five more years beyond 2021, and Pramac likely to remain essentially Ducati’s junior team, plus the fact Suzuki could look to supply bikes from 2022, Aprilia’s options to bag a satellite team are limited. And why, with the leg up you get from Dorna financially to lease bikes, and with the fact there are five race-winning packages on the grid, would you choose an Aprilia right now?

This is ultimately the perception Aprilia really needs to address with its new bike and must do so very quickly, given the tight deadline a factory needs to prepare two more motorcycles.

But, while caution is the order at Aprilia currently, the progress made with the 2021 RS-GP so far in pre-season testing is encouraging ahead of the Italian manufacturer’s biggest year in the premier class.

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia RS-GP, Qatar pre-season test 2021

Photo by: Gold and Goose