45°32′45″N 12°04′15″E / 45.5458747°N 12.0709374°E / 45.5458747; 12.0709374

Aprilia

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Motorcycle
Founded	1945 (1945)
Founder	Alberto Beggio
Headquarters	Noale , Italy
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Rocco Sabelli (CEO)
Products	Motorcycles & Scooters
Parent	Piaggio & Co. SpA
Website	aprilia.com

Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio.^[1] The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles.^[1] In more recent times Aprilia has produced large sportbikes such as the 1,000 cc V-twin RSV Mille and the V4 RSV4.

Aprilia has supported a strong motorsport competition program beginning with motocross racing and then a world championship-winning road racing program.^[1][2] The company was acquired by Piaggio in 2004.^[3]

History

Aprilia plant in Scorzè, Venice

Aprilia, named after the pre-war Lancia Aprilia,^[4] was founded after the Second World War by Cavaliere Alberto Beggio as a bicycle production factory at Noale, Italy, in the province of Venice. Alberto’s son, Ivano Beggio, took over the helm of the company in 1968 and constructed a 50 cc "motorcycle".^[5] The first production Aprilia mopeds were named Colibrì, Daniela and Packi. Aprilia later produced a motocross bike in 1970 called the Scarabeo. Produced until the end of the 1970s, the Scarabeo came in 50 and 125 cc versions.

In 1977, Ivan Alborghetti from Milan, Italy won the Italian 125 and 250 cc motocross championships on Aprilias. In 1978, Alborghetti closed the season with two third places in individual races and sixth place in the World Championship. In the 1980s, Aprilia added enduro, trials and road bikes of between 50 and 600 cc. In 1981, Aprilia introduced the TL320 trials machine. In 1983, Aprilia launched the St 125 road bike. In 1984, Aprilia launched an improved model called STX, and an enduro, called the ET 50.

In 1985, Aprilia started outsourcing engines for some models to the Austrian company Rotax. In 1985 Aprilia launched a 125 STX and 350 STX. In 1986, Aprilia launched the AF1; a small sports model, and the Tuareg; a large tanked bike for African rallies like the Dakar Rally. Aprilia factory rider Philippe Berlatier contended for the trials world championship reaching fifth place, and Loris Reggiani rode an Aprilia GP 250 with Rotax engine to sixth place in the road racing World Championship. Two seasons later, on August 30, 1987, at San Marino Grand Prix in Misano Loris Reggiani's AF1 won the first World Speed Championship.

In 1990, Aprilia launched the Pegaso 600, a road bike derived from off-road mechanics. Later, in 1992 Aprilia rider Alessandro Gramigni won the World 125 Road Racing Championship title. Also in 1992, Tommy Ahvala won the World Trials Championship on an Aprilia Climber. Since then, Aprilia has 124 times won 125 and 250 cc class Grand Prix, 15 Road Racing World Championship titles, and 16 European speed titles. Many world champions started on Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Gramigni, Locatelli, Sakata and Rossi.

Also in the 1990s, Aprilia entered the scooter market starting in 1990 with Italy’s first all-plastic scooter, the Amico. In 1992, Aprilia introduced the Amico LK and the two stroke Pegaso 125, both with catalytic converters. In 1993, Aprilia launched a large diameter wheel scooter reusing the name Scarabeo with a four-stroke, four-valve engine. Later Aprilia launched more scooters such as the Leonardo, the SR and the Gulliver.

In 1995, Aprilia commissioned Philippe Starck to design the Motò which was shown in New York’s Modern Art Museum. Also in 1995, Aprilia launched the two stroke RS 125 and RS 250 sports bikes. In 1998, Aprilia launched the RSV Mille, a 1000cc V-Twin Superbike, and the Falco, a 1000cc V-Twin sport tourer with emphasis on sport. Both bikes used a variation of a Rotax 1000cc engine.

In 1999, Aprilia entered World Superbike Championship racing with its RSV Mille, and during 2000, Aprilia acquired Moto-Guzzi and Laverda, both historic heritage Italian marques. In 2000, Aprilia launched the 50 cc DiTech (Direct Injection Technology) two stroke engine for scooters which provides high mileage and low emissions, and also the RST Futura, a sport tourer, and the ETV 1000 Caponord; an adventure touring motorcycle. Both of these latter two motorcycles used a variation of the Rotax 1000 cc V-Twin.

Most recently, in 2003, Aprilia launched the RSV Mille Tuono which was essentially an RSV Mille with motocross-style high handlebars and only a small headlight fairing. Most of the major motorcycle magazines picked it for the best bike of the year. In 2004, Aprilia was acquired by Piaggio & C. SpA, to form the world’s fourth largest motorcycle group with 1.5 billion Euro in sales, an annual production capacity of over 600,000 vehicles, and a presence in 50 countries.

With the acquisition by Piaggio, the new President of Aprilia is Roberto Colaninno (President of Piaggio & C.), and the Managing Director is Rocco Sabelli. The son of the founder, Ivano Beggio, was the Honorary President and died on 13 March 2018.^[6] On 15 August 2010, Aprilia became the most successful motorcycle racing brand in history, surpassing fellow Italian MV Agusta with a record 276th victory.^[7]

Racing

Aprilia Racing

2023 name	Aprilia Racing
Base	Scorzè, Italy
Principal	Massimo Rivola
Rider(s)	MotoGP: 12. Maverick Viñales 41. Aleix Espargaró 32. Lorenzo Savadori (test rider)
Motorcycle	Aprilia RS-GP
Tyres	Michelin
Riders' Championships	–

Grand Prix World Championship

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.

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.

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.^[8] 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 1991 Czechoslovak motorcycle Grand Prix with rider Alessandro Gramigni winning the 125cc race.^[9] In 1992, they won their first road racing world championship with Gramigni winning the 125cc class.^[9] 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.^[9] 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.^[9] 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.

The company is also notable for choosing somewhat atypical engine configurations. 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.

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.

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.

In 2022, Aprilia entered the series as an official factory team for the first time since 2004.^[10] Their previously supported Gresini Racing team returned to a fully-independent team using Ducati bikes. Aprilia's factory team is named Aprilia Racing.

Riders' championships

Year	Class	Champion	Motorcycle
1992	125cc	Alessandro Gramigni	Aprilia RS125R
1994	125cc	Kazuto Sakata	Aprilia RS125R
	250cc	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV 250
1995	250cc	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV 250
1996	250cc	Max Biaggi	Aprilia RSV 250
1997	125cc	Valentino Rossi	Aprilia RS125R
1998	125cc	Kazuto Sakata	Aprilia RS125R
	250cc	Loris Capirossi	Aprilia RSV 250
1999	250cc	Valentino Rossi	Aprilia RSW 250
2000	125cc	Roberto Locatelli	Aprilia RS125R
2002	125cc	Arnaud Vincent	Aprilia RS125R
	250cc	Marco Melandri	Aprilia RSV 250
2003	250cc	Manuel Poggiali	Aprilia RSV 250
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	125cc	Nicolás Terol	Aprilia RSA 125

Manufacturers' championships

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

Results

MotoGP results

By rider

Year	Class	Team name	Bike	Riders	Races	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F. laps	Points	Pos.
2022	MotoGP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP	Maverick Vinales	20	0	3	0	0	122	11th
				Aleix Espargaró	20	1	6	2	2	212	4th
2023	MotoGP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP	Maverick Viñales	20	0	3	1	1	204	7th
				Aleix Espargaró	20	2	3	1	2	206	6th
				Lorenzo Savadori	3	0	0	0	0	9(12)	24th

By season

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

Year	Motorcycle	Tyres	Riders	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Points	RC	Points	TC	Points	MC
2022				QAT	INA	ARG	AME	POR	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	GER	NED	GBR	AUT	RSM	ARA	JPN	THA	AUS	MAL	VAL
	Aprilia RS-GP	M	Aleix Espargaró	4	9	1	11	3	3	3	3	5	4	4	9	6	6	3	16	11	9	10	Ret	212	4th	334	3rd	248	3rd
			Maverick Viñales	12	16	7	10	10	14	10	12	7	Ret	3	2	13	3	13	7	7	17	16	Ret	122	11th
			Lorenzo Savadori					Ret	21		22			20		19								0	NC	—
2023				POR	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	GER	NED	GBR	AUT	CAT	RSM	IND	JPN	INA	AUS	THA	MAL	QAT	VAL
	Aprilia RS-GP	M	Maverick Viñales	25	127	4	Ret7	Ret9	12	Ret	Ret7	53	68	23	56	88	199	24	11	Ret	11	46	10P4	204	7th	410	5th	326	3rd
			Aleix Espargaró	96	15	Ret4	5	58	68	169	34	15	97	11	128	Ret	5	10	8	85	Ret	Ret	8	198	6th
			Lorenzo Savadori						18		11		19											4 (12)	24th	—

Racing history

Superbike World Championship (SBK)

Aprilia RSV4 Factory race bike

Aprilia entered the Superbike World Championship in 1999 using a homologation special version of their V-twin road bike RSV Mille. 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.

In February 2008, Aprilia debuted a V-4 superbike, the RSV4, for the 2009 Superbike World Championship.^[11]

Max Biaggi rides the RSV4

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

Riders' championships

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

Manufacturers' championships

• 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014

SuperMoto World Championship

Thierry Van Den Bosch riding the SXV 450 in 2006

Aprilia debuted in the FIM Supermoto World Championship in 2004 and since then it has won many titles in both S1 and S2 classes.

Riders' championships

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

Manufacturers' championships

• S2 class: 2006, 2007
• S1 class: 2008, 2011

Models

See also

• Gilera –
• Vespa – scooters made by Piaggio
• List of Italian companies

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aprilia.

• Official website