Aprilia will experience a small revolution over the coming months. Romano Albesiano, technical director since the brand’s return to MotoGP, will leave for Honda and be replaced by Fabiano Sterlacchini, who held the same position at KTM for three years, until this summer, after working at Ducati.
This upheaval was obviously not well received by everyone. At Trackhouse, Aprilia’s satellite team, Davide Brivio made no secret of the fact that he did not expect this news. “I think it’s a little surprise but OK, we’ll see”commented the boss of the American structure to the official MotoGP website. “Romano seems to have made this decision. We will wait for Fabiano. It will be interesting to see what happens.”
“Romano has done a great job to take Aprilia to where it is today because if you remember, it started with what was less than a Superbike machine, to threaten Ducati within a few years. The credit goes to Romano. I wish him good luck at Aprilia, we welcome Fabiano and we hope to be able to do a good job with him too.
Raúl Fernández, the only one of the four Aprilia riders to stay on next season, takes this decision badly. “It’s difficult for me because I have a very good relationship with Romano, I think he works very well at Aprilia”, the Trackhouse driver pointed out. “He is one of the people who improved this project the most so for me it is very disappointing. I worked with the new guy at KTM but I don’t know how he will be able to improve the project. We are already at the limit and you will have to pay attention to small details.”
Espargaró sees good things for Aprilia
Aleix Espargaró, very involved in the development of Aprilia in recent years, recognizes a hard blow for the brand, and even if he will also leave it for Honda in a few weeks, he thinks that the arrival of Fabiano Sterlacchini can bring good.
“It’s obviously a big loss because I think that with more time and perspective, we will give more credit to what Romano accomplished at Aprilia”commented the future Honda test driver. “The journey has been incredible so hats off to his work, but I think Aprilia needs a big change.”
Romano Albesiano and Aleix Espargaró
Photo by: Dorna
“It’s a big boost for everyone at Noale: a big change of very talented and young drivers, they’re going to have new chief mechanics, a new technical director, so I think Aprilia will move up one or two notches to the future and I’m very happy because I think they needed it.”
“You have to take risks if you want to succeed in life”he added. “They are taking risks but they made the right decision, they signed [Marco] Bezzecchi, a young and talented driver, they signed [Jorge] Martín, the fastest rider on the grid at the moment, I worked with the new technical director and he worked at KTM and Ducati the last years. They made the right decisions.”
“Obviously it won’t be easy but it won’t be easy for anyone, even for Honda with Romano [car] it’s a new project, KTM must recruit new people, Ducati must reinvent itself every year. It’s not easy for anyone but for Aprilia, in my opinion it’s promising. They’re rekindling the flame so for me it’s promising.”
For the moment, it is as an observer that Jorge Martín sees these changes taking place, a few weeks before his arrival. The championship leader does not seem worried about seeing a figure as important as Albesiano give way to Sterlacchini “I didn’t work with him.”Martín said about the second. “He has done a good job with KTM. He has a lot of experience with Ducati and KTM so I think he will have very good know-how for Aprilia.”
Aleix Espargaró
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marco Bezzecchi, who will also arrive at Aprilia next season, shares his future teammate’s opinion about Sterlacchini. “I never had the opportunity to speak directly with him but I know he is a very, very good engineer, he did a good job at Ducati but also at KTM”recalled the VR46 pilot. “I’m happy for them, for him, that he’s joining the project.”
Massimo Rivola in any case wants to instill this optimism within the manufacturer. “I always said that one person cannot change a business”declared the boss of Aprilia Racing. “A business is more important than an individual.”
“We make all these changes to move forward, to bring new knowledge, new information”he added. “Aprilia has taken steps forward every year, never backwards. With the three big changes, the technical director and the new drivers, we will continue to do so.”
