Defector from Ducati for KTM in 2021, Fabiano Sterlacchini took the technical direction of Aprilia, in place of Romano Albesiano who then left for Honda, thus participating in the musical chairs which have animated MotoGP in recent months.
Present in Noale's box since the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, the first job of Fabiano Sterlacchini is naturally to take stock of the technical situation of the Venetian team. On the evening of the first 2025 test in Barcelona, it was therefore premature to hope for the slightest spectacular declaration, but that did not prevent the Italian from appearing in front of the journalists still present in the press room to answer the first questions from his Aprilia era which begins with Jorge martin et
Marco Bezzecchi.
As usualwe report his words here without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.
You are new to Aprilia at the moment. Have you already understood everything or are you just getting started on the problems to solve? Do you fully understand motorcycling?
Fabiano Sterlacchini : “Personally, I think it's impossible: You wouldn't need a person who is good, but you need God (laughs)! That's not a lot of time to try to figure it all out. To be honest, in some aspects it's starting to become a little clearer, a less blurry picture, but as I said, it's absolutely premature to draw any conclusions at the moment. »
Fabiano, it looks like it's Aprilia's third period. There was a good bike, then they started winning races, and now something else is happening with Jorge, and with you. Is it like that and is it Aprilia's goal to start a new era, fighting for the title?
” Yes. As I said before, in the end there is some kind of path where you have to reach the perfection of the whole system. And that doesn't mean you have to improve just the bike, but also how you get the rider to perform well during the weekend. Let me tell you, these are my aphorisms for interpreting things, it's like you have to align the planets, you know, so you have to understand that the planets are a job on engine braking and then traction control , then in the way you use the bike in certain corners, how you lift it up. So it's a kind of process and it's, I would say, the third part of the path, because it's clear that the Aprilia's performance is quite good, but obviously it's not enough, because we're all here for one position, right? So we continue to work to try to get to that place. »
Your racing department has a very long history and there are technicians who have been there for a very long time, so how long do you think it will take you to get to know these people and understand how to relate them in a way that can they all improve performance?
“I think it could reasonably be a period of 4 to 8 months, something like that, but it's something that doesn't mean we won't start working until then. But at the same time, to have a fairly clear overall picture, this is the time window. »
You have two new riders in the factory team and a newbie in the satellite team, so you only have Raul Fernandez who has motorcycle experience, right? How difficult does this make your job? And have you seen anything today from Jorge, from Marco, regarding the direction to take to move the project forward?
“Yes, let me say that the difficulty of our job in general, as a company, not my job, because I am a piece of the puzzle, is not that you have a new pilot, newbie, not a beginner: it's the fact that you are challenging 8 billion people in the world. So if you give up something, someone else in the world is pushing for something more. So it's a big challenge, it's the ultimate level. This is why we must go to the extreme in all areas. I think the fact that we have Jorge, who comes from a world champion bike and is a world champion rider, is a great opportunity now, because we have a reference and we can understand more clearly what we are about. we need to concentrate the most. »
Where should you focus most on the bike? What needs to be improved?
“I use the same answer as before, I need time to understand and have a clear picture. »
What was your first impression of Jorge as a rider in the pit, as a personality in the pit, and as a rider on the bike?
“I think in the short time we have worked together, yesterday half a day and today, he is a mix between a champion and a leader. And to be honest, he's pretty amazing in the way he approaches the job. »
What was Jorge's feeling? What did he say after trying the bike?
“As I said before, in the end there are advantages and disadvantages between the project that he piloted last year, sorry, this year, last season, because it is now a new season, but there are obviously aspects that we need to improve. As usual, as I said before, in the end the bike was of course developed, but also the settings around Jorge's needs were developed over several years, you know. So I think it is absolutely premature to say that one aspect is good at Ducati rather than Aprilia, and to be honest I think we never have to see or look at the past, but we have to analyze in the present what we need for the future. So that’s the mission. »
Raul didn't race the 2025 today: were there not enough spare parts for Raul Fernandez to be able to race the 25, when he is the one who can compare?
“To be honest, one of the company's missions is to try to organize work in the best possible way to be more efficient. And now we had to, let's say, delay the landing time of the new motorcycle. And obviously it's part of a process and it's difficult to get here with four bikes for four riders. »
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