We have frequently written about Aprilia’s “giant killer” approach to racing. Two-stroke championships abound, and Aprilia also quickly developed its RSV Mille into a WSB championship contender.
Now, as MD has already reported, Aprilia will go racing in the new, premier four-stroke MotoGP World Championship next year with a 990 cc three-cylinder featuring pneumatic valves. To the surprise of some, Aprilia will race the first MotoGP season with Frenchman Regis Laconi aboard its “RS3” MotoGP machine.
Although Laconi is not necessarily considered a top-tier rider, he could surprise a number of people next year. He is one of the very few riders who knows the GP tracks extremely well, but has also mastered four-stroke riding techniques.
Laconi rode two-stroke GPs from 1995 through 2000, and even won at the 500 GP level. His first 500 GP win came on a V-4 Yamaha in 1998. The guy is extremely fast.
For the 2001 season, Laconi switched to four-strokes. He was hired by Aprilia as Troy Corser’s teammate in WSB. The lifetime two-stroke specialist struggled at first, but he won the final round of the WSB series, and beat Ducati’s Ruben Xaus, who was red hot at the time.
He mastered the four-stroke Aprilia in WSB just in time to switch back to GP for the inaugural four-stroke MotoGP season. Laconi appears to have the perfect background to meet this new challenge, and the RS3 looks like a technically superior machine. The only disadvantage Laconi will have is the late start Aprilia has to its four-stroke testing, particularly compared to Honda and Yamaha.
