The Italian manufacturer is entering its 10th season since its return to the premier class in 2015, when it joined the grid in partnership with Gresini Racing.
From 2022, Aprilia was entered as a standalone factory team after Gresini elected to link up with Ducati.
That year marked a breakthrough for Aprilia, who scored its first victory in MotoGP with Aleix Espargaro in Argentina.
Espargaro was able to sustain an outsider title challenge before finishing third in the standings, but failed to live up to this last season despite taking a brace of grand prix victories.
The Spaniard ended the season sixth in the standings, while team-mate Vinales’ wait for a first win since 2021 went on as he could only manage seventh in the championship with a handful of podiums.
On the eve of the two-day Qatar test this week, Aprilia revealed a largely unchanged livery from last year, albeit with a splash more purple on the RS-GP’s fairing.
Aprilia debuted its updated RS-GP earlier this month at the Sepang pre-season test, which grabbed headlines for its radical approach to aerodynamics.
Lorenzo Savadori, Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: Aprilia Racing
Espargaro was the top non-Ducati rider on the final day of the first test of the year and was generally upbeat about the new Aprilia.
He said the 2024 bike “is definitely better than the ’23 [bike]but stressed Aprilia’s need to find more engine performance in the mid-range if it is to fight for the championship.
Vinales struggled more at the Malaysia test, noting that the bike was “riding me” and saying it was “difficult to stop the bike because it’s not stable.”
This week’s Qatar pre-season test will mark the final running of the winter ahead of racing beginning on 8-10 March at the Losail International Circuit.
Aprilia was the penultimate team yet to unveil its colors for the new year, with Pramac Racing now the only squad yet to show off its livery.
Reigning MotoGP teams’ champions Pramac will hold their team launch for 2024 on 28 February.
