Davide Brivio: Aprilia can be a ‘serious challenger’ to Ducati

Davide Brivio has returned from F1 to take up his third MotoGP team management role, but first with a European manufacturer.

After overseeing world titles with Valentino Rossi at Yamaha and then Joan Mir at Suzuki, Brivio left the sport to take on a new four-wheeled grand prix challenge with Alpine in 2021.

The Italian has been tempted back by the new Trackhouse project, Aprilia’s satellite team, which will make its race debut in Qatar this weekend.

“Happy to be partnered with Aprilia,” Brivio said. “Of course now in MotoGP, Ducati is very strong. They dominated last year’s championship and they are the bike that everybody wants to beat.

“But I think Aprilia is in a great spot to be a challenger of Ducati, together with KTM. So that's also very exciting, to try to challenge the stronger guys, that are dominating. That's why it's good to be with Aprilia at this moment.”

Brivio is also impressed to see Aprilia leading the way with some of its aerodynamics.

“With the 2024 bike, there's been a lot of work on the aerodynamics. Actually, from what I could see, Aprilia has been copied by the others. So that's great! It's already a good achievement if you like,” he said.

“So I think with Aprilia we are in a position to be a serious challenger. Of course, it took Ducati many years to be in this position. And so hopefully Aprilia is going along the same pathway, without underestimating the others [like] KTM.”

But the Italian, 59, also expects the struggling Japanese manufacturers, which now have access to technical concessions, to recover.

“For the moment, Yamaha and Honda are on their way to recovery. We have to use the advantage maybe in this moment before they fully recover!” he said. “But as I say, I’m happy to be with Aprilia because I think now it’s one of the best [bikes].”

Brivio’s Trackhouse riders Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez will start the season with 2024 and 2023 RS-GP machinery respectively.

The Italian believes aerodynamics, which have mushroomed in significance since Brivio’s previous tenure at Suzuki, also mean much bigger bike changes from year-to-year.

“As far as I can see, a little bit also in the past years with this aerodynamic development, probably the riders now have to develop different skills, a different way to ride the bike,” Brivio said.

“You can see even within the same brands, maybe you have two riders, they can both be very happy or maybe one is happy and the other cannot adjust. Because you always need to adjust your riding style to the aerodynamics and the [ride height] devices and all this stuff. It’s another variable.

“So I have the impression it's becoming, I wouldn't say a different sport, but you need a different approach from a few years ago where the bikes were evolving but were more or less always the same bike [from year to year]. Better engine, better chassis...

“Now the steps are much bigger and consequently it's much harder for the rider to adapt to all those things.”

Brivio even described Oliveira’s 2022 to 2024 step this winter as “almost like he changed brand.”

“Miguel jumped from ‘22 to ’24. Seems to be a big jump. My feeling was it's almost like he changed brand! I don't know if it's true or not. We have to ask him.

“But I mean, it's not just another evolution. It's a big jump. And this tells you how much difference there is between one bike and the other, in one or two years.”

Oliveira, a five-time race winner for KTM, took a best race finish of fourth during an injury-interrupted 2023 season with RNF. Team-mate Fernandez peaked with fifth.

Aprilia has won three MotoGP races since the start of 2022 with Aleix Espargaro, who again forms the factory team line-up alongside Maverick Vinales.