Aprilia Racing

Despite being a relatively small company by global motorcycling standards, Aprilia is very active in motorcycle sports. It contested many Road Racing formulae, including the now-defunct 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc Grand Prix classes of the FIM World Championship. From 2002 to 2004, they participated in the FIM MotoGP World Championship, and from 1999 to 2002, they participated in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Aprilia has returned to World Superbike since the 2009 season and in MotoGP since the 2012 season.^{[citation needed]}

Aprilia also feature in the off-road racing world, with their 450 cc V-2 motocrosser producing respectable results (including race wins) in both off-road (Motocross) and on-road (Supermoto) categories.^{[citation needed]}

Aprilia made their international racing debut in the Motocross World Championship competing in the 125cc class from 1976 until 1981 with a best result being a fifth place in the 1979 season with rider Corrado Maddi.^[2] The firm then focused on the Grand Prix road racing world championships in 1985 and since then it has seen varying successes. Aprilia won their first world championship race at the 1987 San Marino motorcycle Grand Prix with rider Loris Reggiani winning the 250cc race.^[3] In 1992, they won their first road racing world championship with Gramigni winning the 125cc class.^[3] They continued to be successful in the smaller displacement categories, winning numerous races and championships in the 125 cc and 250 cc Grand Prix classes.

However, their 500 cc Grand Prix bikes failed to attain the same success. They began campaigning in the 500cc class in 1994 with a 250 V twin motor enlarged to 380cc in hopes of using its lighter weight and nimble handling as an advantage against the heavier, V4 engine bikes used by the competition.^[3] The bike eventually displaced 430cc and had its best result with a third place by rider Doriano Romboni at the 1997 Dutch TT but, could never overcome power disadvantage during the starting line sprint and was withdrawn at the end of the 1997 season for further development.^[3] Their first MotoGP effort, dubbed the RS Cube, was technically advanced but difficult to ride and performed poorly in the championship. The Cube did, however, pioneer many advanced technologies including ride by wire throttle and pneumatic valve actuation systems. Aprilia left the MotoGP class at the end of 2004 and then left the lower classes when two-stroke engines were banned. Aprilia set the record for the most points earned by a manufacturer in a single season from the 125cc class with 410 points in 2007. It was also the highest points earned by a constructor in Grand Prix motorcycle racing's history until 2011 when 420 points were won by the same bikes winning 16 out of 17 races.^{[citation needed]}

The company is also notable for choosing atypical engine configurations.^[4] For example, they progressed with development of a V-2 500 cc Grand Prix bike when other teams were moving to V-4 configurations for what some believed was better and more usable power outputs. Aprilia continued this trend, taking advantage of lighter minimum weights with the introduction of their RS Cube MotoGP bike – featuring three cylinders in an inline triple layout, the bike had the fewest cylinders on the Grand Prix paddock.^{[citation needed]}

Aprilia rejoined the MotoGP class in 2012, taking advantage of the newly introduced Claiming Rule Team category that encouraged independent teams with lower budgets to use bikes from manufacturers not officially involved in MotoGP. Aprilia supplied RSV4 SBK-derived bikes under the ART (Aprilia Racing Technology) name to Aspar Team, Paul Bird Motorsport and Speed Master teams. In both the 2012 and 2013 seasons Aprilia's ART machinery stood out as the best CRT bikes.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, Aprilia partnered with Gresini Racing as a factory-supported independent team. The team competed as the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini with an all-new 1000cc V4-engined RS-GP.^{[citation needed]}

In 2022, Aprilia entered the series as an official factory team for the first time since 2004.^[5] Their previously supported Gresini Racing team returned to a fully-independent team using Ducati bikes. Aprilia's factory team is named Aprilia Racing.

Aprilia entered the Grand Prix road racing world championships in 1985 and since then it has seen varying successes.

On 15 August 2010, Aprilia became the most successful motorcycle racing brand in history, surpassing fellow Italian MV Agusta with a record 276th victory.^[6]

Results

By rider

More information Year, Class ...

Year	Class	Team name	Bike	No.	Riders	Races	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F. laps	Points	Pos.
2022	MotoGP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP	12	Maverick Viñales	20	0	3	0	0	122	11th
				41	Aleix Espargaró	20	1	6	2	2	212	4th
				32	Lorenzo Savadori	5	0	0	0	0	0	28th
2023				12	Maverick Viñales	20	0	3	1	1	204	7th
				41	Aleix Espargaró	20	2	3	1	2	206	6th
				32	Lorenzo Savadori	3	0	0	0	0	9 (12)	24th
2024				12	Maverick Viñales	20	1	1	1	1	190	7th
				41	Aleix Espargaró	18	0	0	2	0	163	11th
				32	Lorenzo Savadori	3	0	0	0	0	0	28th
2025				1	Jorge Martín	6	0	0	0	0	34*	20th*
				72	Marco Bezzecchi	18	2	6	3	2	254*	3th*
				32	Lorenzo Savadori	10	0	0	0	0	8*	24th*

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By season

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Motorcycle ...

Year	Motorcycle	Tyres	No.	Riders	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	RC	Points	TC	Points	MC	Points
2022	Aprilia RS-GP	M			QAT	INA	ARG	AME	POR	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	GER	NED	GBR	AUT	RSM	ARA	JPN	THA	AUS	MAL	VAL
			41	Aleix Espargaró	4	9	1	11	3	3	3	3	5	4	4	9	6	6	3	16	11	9	10	Ret			4th	212	3rd	334	3rd	248
			12	Maverick Viñales	12	16	7	10	10	14	10	12	7	Ret	3	2	13	3	13	7	7	17	16	Ret			11th	122
			32	Lorenzo Savadori					Ret	21		22			20		19										NC	0	—N/a
2023					POR	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	GER	NED	GBR	AUT	CAT	RSM	IND	JPN	INA	AUS	THA	MAL	QAT	VAL
			12	Maverick Viñales	25	127	4	Ret7	Ret9	12	Ret	Ret7	53	68	23	56	88	199	24	11	Ret	11	46	104			7th	204	5th	410	3rd	326
			41	Aleix Espargaró	96	15	Ret4	5	58	68	169	34	15	97	11	128	Ret	5	10	8	85	Ret	Ret	8			6th	206
			32	Lorenzo Savadori						18		11		19													24th	5 (12)	—N/a
2024					QAT	POR	AME	SPA	FRA	CAT	ITA	NED	GER	GBR	AUT	ARA	RSM	EMI	INA	JPN	AUS	THA	MAL	SLD
			12	Maverick Viñales	109	Ret1	11	9	53	128	85	53	127	138	7	Ret	16	6	67	Ret9	8	7	7	15			7th	190	4th	353	3rd	302
			41	Aleix Espargaró	83	88	75	Ret	95	41	119	DNS	WD	63	93	10	Ret	8	Ret	9	168	9	13	54			11th	163
			32	Lorenzo Savadori						Ret		21	DNS														28th	0	—N/a
2025					THA	ARG	AME	QAT	SPA	FRA	GBR	ARA	ITA	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	HUN	CAT	RSM	JPN	INA	AUS	MAL	POR	VAL
			1	Jorge Martín				Ret								7	Ret	49	10	138	DNS					Ret	21st	34	5th	395	2nd	418
			72	Marco Bezzecchi	6	Ret6	6	99	148	14	14	88	56	23	Ret2	24	34	37	Ret	21	4	Ret1	31	116	13	15	3rd	353
			32	Lorenzo Savadori	20	DNS	15		18	9	18	17	17	Ret	Ret				Ret				16	16	16		24th	8

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Aprilia has been successful in the smaller displacement categories, winning numerous races and championships in the 125 cc and 250 cc Grand Prix classes.

Honours

Riders' championships

More information Year, Class ...

Year	Class	Champion	Motorcycle
1992	125cc	Alessandro Gramigni	Aprilia RS125R
1994		Kazuto Sakata
	250cc	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV 250
			Aprilia RSV 250
1995
1996
1997	125cc	Valentino Rossi	Aprilia RS125R
1998		Kazuto Sakata
	250cc	Loris Capirossi	Aprilia RSV 250
1999		Valentino Rossi
2000	125cc	Roberto Locatelli	Aprilia RS125R
2002		Arnaud Vincent
	250cc	Marco Melandri	Aprilia RSV 250
2003		Manuel Poggiali
2006	125cc	Álvaro Bautista	Aprilia RS125R
	250cc	Jorge Lorenzo	Aprilia RSW 250
2007	125cc	Gábor Talmácsi	Aprilia RS125R
	250cc	Jorge Lorenzo	Aprilia RSA 250
2009	125cc	Julián Simón	Aprilia RSA 125
2011		Nicolás Terol

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Manufacturers' championships

More information 250cc, 125cc ...

250cc	1995, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009	125cc	1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

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In 1999, Aprilia entered the World Superbike Championship with a homologated special version of the RSV Mille.^[15]

They were third in the riders' championship in 2000 with rider Troy Corser, and third in manufacturers' points and fourth in rider points both in 2001 with Corser and in 2002 with Noriyuki Haga. Aprilia retired from the series at the end of that season.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2008, Aprilia debuted a V-4 superbike, the RSV4, for the 2009 Superbike World Championship.^[16]

Aprilia won its first Superbike world championship in 2010 with Max Biaggi, claiming both the riders and the manufacturers titles.^[17]

Riders' championships

More information Year, Champion ...

Year	Champion	Motorcycle
2010	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV4 1000
2012		Aprilia RSV4 Factory
2014	Sylvain Guintoli

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Aprilia also feature in the off-road racing world,^[18] with their 450 cc V-2 motocrosser producing respectable results, including race wins, in both Motocross and Supermoto categories.

Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing European Championship

Aprilia has also participated in the European championships of various classes having won multiple championships across 250cc and 125cc classes.

More information Year, 250 cc ...

Year	250 cc	125 cc
1988	Fausto Ricci
1989	Andrea Borgonovo	Gabriele Debbia
2004	Álvaro Molina
2005	Álvaro Molina
2006	Álvaro Molina
2007	Álvaro Molina
2008		Lorenzo Savadori
2010		Maverick Viñales
2011		Romano Fenati

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SuperMoto World Championship

Aprilia debuted in the FIM Supermoto World Championship in 2004 and since then it has won many titles in both S1 and S2 classes.^{[citation needed]}

Riders' championships

More information Year, Class ...

Year	Class	Champion	Motorcycle
2004	S2	Jerome Giraudo	Aprilia SXV 450
2006		Thierry Van Den Bosch
2011	S1	Adrien Chareyre	Aprilia MXV-S 450

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Manufacturers' championships

More information S1, S2 ...

S1	2008, 2011	S2	2006, 2007

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CIV

Aprilia has also participated in the CIV championship having won championships since 1991.

More information Year, Class ...

Year	Class
	125cc	250cc	Stock 1000	Superbike
1991		Pierfrancesco Chili
1992		Marcellino Lucchi
1993	Stefano Perugini	Marcellino Lucchi
1994	Ivan Cremonini	Marcellino Lucchi
1995	Valentino Rossi	Marcellino Lucchi
1996		Marcellino Lucchi
1997		Marcellino Lucchi
1998		Diego Giugovaz
1999	Fabrizio De Marco	Ivan Clementi
2000	Gaspare Caffiero	Riccardo Chiarello
2005	Simone Grotzkyj
2006	Luca Verdini
2007	Roberto Lacalendola
2008	Lorenzo Savadori
2009	Riccardo Moretti
2010	Francesco Mauriello		Ivan Goi
2011	Niccolò Antonelli
2012	Lorenzo Dalla Porta
2020				Lorenzo Savadori

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Aprilia is notable for choosing atypical engine configurations^[4] for their racing bikes.

For example, they progressed with development of a V-2 500 cc Grand Prix bike when other teams were moving to V-4 configurations for what some believed was better and more usable power outputs.

Aprilia continued this trend, taking advantage of lighter minimum weights with the introduction of their RS Cube MotoGP bike which features three cylinders in an inline triple layout, the bike had the fewest cylinders on the Grand Prix paddock.

It also pioneered many advanced technologies including ride by wire throttle and pneumatic valve actuation systems.