MotoGP | Rivola (Aprilia): “Too many eight Ducatis on the track and now Marc Marquez is there too”

Aprilia MotoGP – Eight Ducatis on the track with the addition of Marc Marquez worry Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing.

The Venetian company closed the 2023 season in 6th and 7th place with Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Vinales while finishing third in the constructors' championship.

According to Rivola as reported by Speedweek.com, the mistake was allowing the Borgo Panigale company to field all these bikes. Here is Rivola's thought.

Massimo Rivola Statements Aprilia MotoGP Performance 2023

“The worst thing you can do is overreact when things aren't going well. If you look at the first half of the season, we were not up to par in terms of performances or results. We kept calm, kept pushing and then celebrated two victories. But in Thailand, where we had expected difficulties, the performance wasn't bad at all. The bike is improving overall. Austria has also been a modest track for us in the past, but this year Maverick almost took pole position. If we put everything together, we can be fast. It's all about the details, and we need to work more diligently on those details.”

Massimo Rivola Statements Too many Ducatis in MotoGP

“Regularly only the Ducati guys beat us and they have a huge advantage with eight bikes on the track, eight fantastic bikes and next year it will be even worse because the bike that won the world title will also be ridden by Marc Marquez. Doesn't sound good for all the competition. It's a difficult job, but we have no choice but to make a better bike and stop making mistakes. We need to look at what we've done so far and really understand why we haven't been fast in some races. If the driver has the right environment, he can make a difference. This extra to fill the last gap can come from the driver. I am sure. Next year's bike has to be better, and there's no reason to doubt it. So the question will be: how much will KTM improve, how much will Ducati improve, with the advantage it already had? And Yamaha? What they showed in Sepang was a bit worrying. They'll get concessions and we'll let them do it, but I look like an idiot because why would we do that? But the biggest problem is that we have eight super-fast Ducatis in the field. I don't want to offend anyone, because they did it and we didn't. The problem is that they shouldn't have been allowed to do so. This is what I tell Carmelo (Ezpeleta) every day. I'm not saying they aren't right. They did it, they invested a lot, they did well. But it's not good for the Championship."