Aprilia reveals 2023 MotoGP livery ahead of final test

The 2022 season was a breakthrough campaign for the Italian manufacturer, which registered its first win in the modern MotoGP era when Aleix Espargaro scored a maiden victory at the Argentine Grand Prix.

Espargaro went on to score five further podiums as he made a dark horse bid for the title, ultimately finishing fourth in the standings and 53 points behind champion Francesco Bagnaia.

Aprilia’s podium haul totalled eight for the year, with Maverick Vinales - in his first full season with the marque following his acrimonious Yamaha split in 2021 - reaching the rostrum twice with a brace of thirds at Silverstone and Misano.

Espargaro and Vinales will remain in the Aprilia factory team line-up for 2023 having penned two-year deals last season, with both enjoying a solid Sepang test last month in sixth and third overall on the timesheets.

Ahead of this weekend’s final two-day test of the 2023 pre-season, Aprilia pulled the wraps off a largely unchanged livery at its launch event at the Algarve International Circuit.

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Aprilia expands its roster of bikes on the grid to four for 2023, after it inked a deal with RNF Racing for Razlan Razali’s squad to become its satellite partner.

It marks the first time Aprilia has run customer bikes since returning to MotoGP in 2015, although it did operate its factory effort in conjunction with Gresini Racing from 2015 to 2021.

This will boost its bid to build on its third place in the constructors’ standings in 2022, with Aprilia missing out on second by just eight points to a Yamaha factory which will be represented by just two bikes this year after failing to reach a new agreement with RNF.

RNF will unveil its own new-look livery for 2023 on 16 March, with all other teams having already done so prior to this weekend’s Portugal test.

Testing begins on Saturday 11 March at 9:30am GMT and runs to 5:30pm GMT, with 15 minutes set aside afterwards for practice starts.