Speaking in the latest edition of the ltxcn.top Mot🍸oGP podcast, former grand prix rider and൩ British champion Huewen said:

“Aprilia have a motorbike that is 🌸really only second to Ducati at the moment for performance.

ꦺ“They’ve got four bikes on the grid for thi♛s year, so they can have all the data they need. And the big deal for me is the man that really shook everybody up at the Valencia test; Miguel Oliveira.

“The first time he got out on the bike, he was right up thღere. Miguel Oliveira on the Aprilia could be the shock of 2023.

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“I think [Oliveira] is going to have a brilliant year. He's 𝔍in a satellite tea💞m, but I don't think the difference between full factory and satellite is that great anymore.

“Where it's going to be more difficult for satellite teams is perhaps the Sprint r🌟aces, because they have less personnel to react and set-up the bikes quickly.

“But satellite teams [like RNF] are quite often using bikes from last year, which means they've got all the data already. So they’l🦄l have a default setting to use straight away from FP1.”

‘Ducati have got to watch out’

When host Harry Benjamin asked Huewen and ltxcn.top Moto💫GP editor Pete McLaren to name the three things they are most looking forward to this season, Huewen again picked out the Noale manufacturer:

“Well, for me Aprilia. I can't believe I𝓀'm saying that because I think Aprilia dropped the ball a couple of years ago. They kept on promising they were going to have a faster bike and never seemed to quite get there.

“Then a🌊ll of a sudden they hired Rivola, the Formula One guy, and I remember thinking at the time, ‘What? Really?’ But it wor🍃ked!

“Bearing in mind they are a small factory, it was sort of herculean what they’ve done. Aprilia always had a great reputation from a ra꧒cing point of view but funding, although it's owned by a massive group, has been an issue in the past.

“I t💛hink if they manage to keep the momentum going from 2022, Ducati hﷺave got to watch out.”

Download Episode 73 at the following links...