The 2021 season was a turning point for Aprilia when Aleix Espargaró climbed to the first podium in MotoGP. The manufacturer from Noale, which is preparing to start the championship with concessions and as the only manufacturer after having raced with Gresini until last year, has made important changes to the RS-GP, being the only brand free to develop the bike, with seven engines and unlimited tests.
Aprilia seems to have made great strides with the 2022 bike, having closed the Sepang tests with the second time in the combined classification and the Mandalika tests in fourth position. Along these lines, an Aleix Espargaró confirmed that Aprilia can win a race this year.
“Definitely yes. Last year we had a podium so obviously we will try to win.”
“But it will be very difficult,” continues Espargaró. “I think that this year the championship will be the most complicated in the history of MotoGP, because the level of the riders and the bikes is incredible. But yes, we are getting closer to this goal. Although it is difficult, we are more united than never”.
Looking ahead to 2022, Espargaro believes a top 6 finish could be a realistic target.
“It is difficult to give an answer about what would make me happy, because I am always very ambitious, maybe too much. I can make a good championship, maybe finish in the top 6 and I would not be happy enough. But it is part of life and of the sport. The important thing is to be satisfied with the work you do, and what we can be satisfied with will be to improve what we did last year”, he confessed.
“Last year we finished eighth in the championship, so if this year we are close and manage to get even over 200 points and be able to finish in the top 6, I think it will be a realistic championship. You can’t finish eighth one year and then win the world championship the next, it’s not realistic, even if that’s what I want.
“But we are all working hard, we are very happy with our pre-season. It’s just testing, we know it’s not the races, but we are doing well, the bike has been working well since the first few laps in Sepang with Lorenzo Savadori.”
