WSBK – WSBK Guide 2013 – Aprilia: odd year and winning? – WSBK 2013: presentation of Aprilia teams

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WSBK 2013 Guide – Aprilia: odd year and wins ?

WSBK - WSBK Guide 2013 - Aprilia: odd year and winning? - WSBK 2013: presentation of Aprilia teams

As in 2010, Aprilia won in 2012 the titles of world champion Superbike, manufacturer and driver. Biaggi has withdrawn, but Laverty and Guintoli take the baton! Two Romans on private RSV4 are also there: Giugliano and Fabrizio.

WSBK 2013: presentation of Aprilia teams

Site readers – who, as everyone knows, are a little more fortunate than others – were able to follow one of the most exciting seasons in the World Superbike Championship last year (read our).

Follow the entire 2013 WSBK season on MNC !

The is kept up to date on the Site. On this page, you will not only find the dates and locations of the upcoming WSBK events, but also and above all the links to our reports and analyzes of the races already contested. Add to your favorites now !

Besides the tiny gap between the two top drivers – half a point! -, we note that the Aprilia of Max Biaggi was ahead of four motorcycles of different brands: the Kawasaki of Tom Sykes, the BMW of Marco Melandri, the Ducati of Carlos Checa and the Honda of Jonathan Rea !

This Top 5 pilots, as well as the number of victorious pilots this 2012 season (9!) And the number of pilots having climbed the podium (15) illustrate the homogeneity of the field, its richness and that of the two races contested each Sunday..

If we consider the Top 10 this time, we see that Aprilia appears three times, like Ducati. The brand of Noale however aligned only two additional RSV4 (a second "factory" and a "private"), against eight machines in all (semi-official or private) for the firm of Borgo Panigale.

More competitive than the 1198 – faster in a straight line, in particular! -, the RSV4 collected many trophies in 2012: with it, the Roman Emperor climbed on 11 podiums and took the top step five times.

Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies also had Noale’s formidable weapon and they put it to good use: ten podiums including two wins between them! The Irishman – second official driver – was at the end of the season in 6th place in the general classification while the Welshman "best rookie 2012" finished 9th.

Crowned in 2010 and 2012, Aprilia intends to break the rhythm established for four years and break the fate of odd years by retaining its two titles in 2013 (manufacturer and driver). It is with this double goal that the brand has put the maximum chances on its side…

From a purely statistical point of view, the presence of a fourth Aprilia on the WSBK table mechanically increases the probability of winning. But the "Aprilia" rating also increases, among informed observers, when reading the names of the pilots registered in the three Aprilia teams. !

Admittedly, Max Biaggi has disappeared from the list, with the 42-year-old former pilot having decided to bow out from the top of his world throne and make himself comfortable in the commentators’ lodge. But the two men who will ride the factory RSV4s lack neither experience nor motivation.

Eugene Laverty, who supported the Roman Emperor last year, remains with the Aprilia Racing Team. Fourth in the 2011 championship riding the official Yamaha R1, the Irishman (from the North) dropped slightly in the WSBK ranking in 2012, but that did not prevent him from being among the big favorites for the 2013 title..

In his last message published on his personal website – on December 2, the date which marked the start of the winter break – number 58 reported that he had "looking forward to a solid start to the 2013 season, now that I am starting my second year on the RSV4".

"In 2010 I had a fantastic season in World Supersport because I had the advantage of having a second season within the Parkalgar team.", Laverty analyzed. Unfortunately for him, his eight victories did not allow him to beat the Turkish metronome Kenan Sofuoglu (three wins but 13 podiums in 13 races!).

"Continuity is the key in this championship", observes the very quick and extremely tenacious Eugene."Carlos Checa illustrated it perfectly by winning the 2011 title in his second season on an obsolete 1198"…

Note to moderate the words of "Youdjin" that it was "only" the fourth year of competition for this Ducati model, and that the lack of power of its twin was then compensated by its excellent traction and its ability to devour the curves … A balance that the 6 kg ballast broke in 2012.

The RSV4, for its part, is embarking on a fifth campaign in 2013 and the Rouge de Noale remains perfectly in the game! It is for this reason that Sylvain Guintoli preferred to give up – – the offer of Suzuki…

After a particularly stormy 2012 (read the MNC album), "Guinters" is preparing to play a 2013 season under high pressure as well, but positive, since he has for the first time in his career the status of pilot. ‘factory, succeeding Max Biaggi himself in the Aprilia box !

Sylvain is well aware that he has the best motorbike on the grid and was raving about it this winter: "I already felt comfortable after a few laps (in Jerez, read, Editor’s note). The RSV4 Factory is the most powerful Superbike I have ridden but the control is impeccable".

"It is quite simply a very efficient motorcycle, which therefore makes it easy to set good lap times.", declared the Frenchie at the end of his first tests."The RSV4 is also the most pleasant and fun motorcycle to ride.".

Sylvain Guintoli’s 2013 objectives are therefore clear: "I want to win races and be on the podium as often as possible. This is what it takes to hope to win the title !", explains our favorite n ° 50, who released last year at the helm of the 1198 – of the Liberty then Pata teams … – his victory counter (3).

The arrival of Guintoli in the official structure does not worry Laverty, on the contrary: "I think Gigi Dall’Igna made a good choice", Eugene believes,"I get on well with Sylvain and I esteem him as a driver, so it will be nice to share the garage with a top driver again ".

As of the autumn tests in Jerez, the two drivers decided to hide nothing, superimposing their graphs and analyzing their data on each turn. Once again, the talkative Eugene Laverty gets noticed by delivering some secrets about the past season…

"I know a driver who asked to ban all data sharing with his teammate last year when he felt he was gaining the upper hand, and came back begging when he was beaten again !", wrote Eugene on his site, before specifying"and no hasty conclusions, it was not in the Aprilia garage but in another factory team"… (By inference, the mark in question begins with a B and ends with a W).

This season, Aprilia will no longer have a single Joker (Haga in 2011, Davies in 2012) but rather two: Davide Giugliano and Michel Fabrizio will undoubtedly be able to tease the two official drivers, especially during their national events ( Monza and Imola).

Faithful to the team thanks to which he dominated the Superstock 1000 category in 2011 (read), Giugliano keeps to himself the ardor of youth – he celebrated his 23 years on October 28 – and this year again has the bike "champion of the world "(after the 1198 last year).

In addition, he now knows all the circuits of the program (except those of Laguna Seca and Buddh, of course) and feels in WSBK at home: the boy has been walking the paddocks of the World Superbike for eight years. !

Two years of Superstock 600, one of Supersport then four of Superstock 1000 forged a character in hardened steel which should make sparks, once installed at the controls of the Aprilia with the "all aluminum" frame..

Davide has already started to stand out on the Aprilia by setting the second fastest lap of the first tests of the year at Jerez (read). The No. 34 was only a tenth of a second behind Melandri and was ahead of Laverty by three tenths. Mamma mia !

The Red Devils Roma team did not participate in the January testing but were present last November. Michel "the Gladiator" then posted a remarkable 1 ‘40.956, less than a second from Laverty and three tenths faster than Guintoli who also discovered the Aprilia Superbike.

It must be said that Fabrizio has a lot of experience in World Superbike: at the height of his 28 years, the famous n ° 84 already has 184 starts in World Superbike, more than any rider still in activity, but still half. less than record holder Troy Corser (377!).

Coming from Rome like Giugliano – and like Biaggi! -, Michel Fabrizio wants to take advantage of this 8th Superbike season to bounce back and return to his best level: that of 2008, when he was riding the official Ducati alongside Noriyuki Haga…

The Italian driver was then mounted on 15 podiums, had won 3 victories (out of the 4 he has in WSBK) and was ranked third in the championship behind the incredible Ben Spies and the eternal second Nitro Nori … Eighth during the final season of the official Ducati team, Michel did not find a motorcycle to suit his gloves afterwards.

Twelfth in the championship on the – alone – Suzuki in 2011 and eleventh in the BMW Italia last year (4.5 points ahead of his young teammate Badovini), Fabrizio intends to start the year wisely and increase the pace quietly. : "I don’t want to repeat mistakes (the falls, Editor’s note) years gone by", he declares on his Facebook page.

"My strengths are determination, courage and my desire to redeem myself, in addition to the great confidence I place in my team.", sums up the new Aprilia rider. Another strong point of Fabrizio: his affection for the Brno circuit – like Biaggi again! -, where he competed in his best races.

Be sure to attend the next round in Czech Republic … and the others for that matter, to follow on Site: stay tuned !

Aprilia teams in WSBK 2013

  • Sylvain Guintoli # 50
    WSBK: 78 starts, 10 podiums including 3 wins, 1 pole

  • # 58
    WSBK: 53 starts, 12 podiums including 3 wins
  • # 34
    WSBK: 28 starts, 2 podiums

Red Devils Roma

  • Michel Fabrizio # 84
    WSBK: 184 starts, 34 podiums including 4 wins, 1 pole

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