Interview: Fabiano Sterlacchini - Technical Director, Aprilia Raching team (MotoGP)

Fabiano Sterlacchini, Tech Director, Aprilia Racing, gives our man Christopher a quick update on the team's progress going into the 2025 MotoGP season's Czech GP.

Chris: Up to this point in the 2025 season, have things gone according to plan for you since the beginning of the season?

Fabiano: Yeah, let me say that arriving here in the Aprilia MotoGP project, I was quite confident that the base of the project was really good because we know Aprilia is a historical company in motorsport, in road racing competitions, and at the end, let me say that probably we are a bit more ahead than what I was expecting. Recently, also due to the outstanding commitment and I would say performance in general, but also strong team work overall, the hard work of Bezzecchi, we improved quite a bit. In two steps basically, bringing evolution when it is difficult to even seek for a solution and test and validate this new solution during the race weekend. But we had a couple of trigger points, one in Jerez after race test, another one is Aragon after race test, where we made a couple of strides in terms of improvement and now we are reaping the benefit of this.

Chris: What are you expecting from current reining champ Jorge Martin's return to the bike and racing?

Fabiano: Yes, coming from the job that we had to do at the beginning of the season, especially in Malaysia and Thailand, to now, we see it as sort of starting from scratch, in terms of ergonomics and everything. So it is quite clear that, I would say, in between three and five races, we have to try to ramp-up our efforts try to fit and match all the parameters with the bike, because, for example, when we are setting the traction control rather than the engine brake, in the way that you (Martin) rides the bike, you have to change the parameter and to make something that fits with the way the rider prefers. So, I think that between three and five races, we will get back in the, I would say, acceptable spot, in terms of performance, considering the level of talent of our team.

Chris: How has the season been going so far for Bezzecchi and Savadori? What has their communication been with the team, with regard to the setup of the bike?

Fabiano: Everything is super, super good. I believe that, for sure, considering our situation at the beginning of the season, without having the world champion, in terms of talent, in terms of the reference, because he's coming from the most competitive bike, there was something that was missing. But, at the end, we try to exploit the situation with the human assets that are working with us. For sure, the approach of the company has been that we try to exploit the presence of Savadori to debug (assess) some solutions. And sometimes, like, for example, in Assen, between the sprint, where we had the podium with the third position, with a reasonable gap around two seconds, then we had a really good race, super close to Marquez for all the races. For example, we put some different winglets on the bike that was tested the day before by Savadori. So, we tried to create a sort of system that Savadori was debugging (assessing), giving us his comments, and we then tried showed Bezzechithe analysis and took his comments and feedback. Obviously, now we have to change this approach.

Chris: Previously, I recall an interview where Marco said that he was struggling, especially in time attacks. So, if you're effectively testing parts with Lorenzo, get his feedback with regard to new components and then pass them on to Marco? Is this a result of that last bit you mentioned?

Fabiano: Let me also say, as I told you before, the huge commitment of Marco in the project. Because, for example, he was struggling during the time attack and also in some initial part of the race in terms of being too much aggressive and to upset the bike and making mistakes in the race and also making mistakes during the time attack. We decided to do something in terms of his riding style and he dedicated some sessions in Italian tracks with a street bike, spending also 100 laps to try to train the brain to change the riding style. So, this one is a well done, because it means that the rider is fully committed to do whatever it takes to reach the performance.

Chris: That's great to hear. Moving on, what is the current objective of the factory Aprilla Racing Team? Is it to simply get ahead of the VR46 Team, or what exactly is the current target as it stands?

Fabiano: To be 100% transparent, my approach is not to give the target, but to work in the premises to reach a target. But anyway, if we have to be realistic and pragmatic, we should say that the target should be to finish at least second in the Manufacturer's Championship, and to also finish in the top four position in the Rider's Championship. This is something that is absolutely feasible. For sure, why not dream and do even better in the World Championship? So, as you said, yes, one target is to finish in front of the VR46 Team in terms of rider's points, and also right behind the Ducati in terms of manufacturer's championship.

Chris: Alright, so, from the current season, and all the races that you've gone through, with the GP25, what are its strengths, weaknesses and what are your predictions for the rest of the season? And at what particular tracks can we expected to see the Aprillia Factory Racing Bike finish really strong?

Fabiano: Christopher, at the end, one of my missions is to try to do something that is more versatile, where we should avoid showing outstanding performance but with some outstanding debacle to go along, because this up and down is something that creates problems. And to be honest, now, if we see just the speed without the result, because the result, the part we haven't (met) during the race, like mistake, like bad qualifying or whatever… but in terms of speed that we have a specific indicator to measure our performance, we could say that we went through different tracks with different layouts, different levels of grip, and basically we always had the pace in the last, let me say, six-seven races at least to stay in the area of a podium finish. So I believe that in front of us now the philosophy should be that we have to approach every weekend doing everything possible, whatever it takes to believe that we can stay in the podium, because we show us that we can do it.

And afterwards, if I have to point out to some specific tracks, for sure a track like (the one in) Indonesia, for example, Misano, Barcelona, are those we can probably have something extra compared to other tracks like, for example, Sepang, where there's lots of the tyre wear. And, let me say, the level of perfection shown of the Ducati project shows they could have some advantage in a situation like this. And also, we have to consider there are some tracks where the Ducati's will have something extra like in Spielberg for Pecco, for example, Motegi or Sepang or Philip Island for Mark. But anyway, I believe that we should approach always believing that it could be possible.

Chris: Awesome. And now with the current world champion, Jorge Martin, he's returning to the grid after testing in Misano. What is the feedback he has been giving the team?

Fabiano: You know, in the last test that we did in Misano he said that the bike has improved in terms of how much easier it is to manage. But obviously, you know, a simple test ride with the bike to see how is good your physical condition is very different from a race scenario. So probably now comes the real litmus test – to understand where we are, to check exactly the status in terms of his physical condition and also his alchemy with the bike.

Chris: And just one last question, which of the riders are you going to focus on to further develop the bike moving forward?

Fabiano: We try to absolutely balance our resources, our focus and effort to give them the maximum support to perform. And it's always quite risky. You saw something in the past, like when Honda focused a lot in Marquez and the bike was just fit for him and was not really good for the others. Then when you lose Marquez, it's a problem. So as a company, we cannot just focus on one rider. We should have wide range.