2023-12-20 18:14:25
Winter is coming and the MotoGP riders They are already focused on their physical preparation for next year. The majority of the grid has already enjoyed a brief but relaxed vacation away from the hustle and bustle of the paddock, many of them in paradisiacal destinations such as Marc Márquez or Aleix Espargaró, who wasted no time when it came to getting on a plane with his family to enjoy the beaches of the Maldives.
The Aprilia rider is already back home, and for a few days he has resumed his cycling training, he has been training for the Rocco’s Ranch dirt-track charity race and he has also taken advantage of this break to tune up the most powerful bike. from your current garage, an RSV 1100 with which the driver from Granollers regularly trains at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The world championship regulations restrict the type of motorcycles that MotoGP riders can train on during the preseason; They must be production motorcycles, no prototypes, and modification of internal engine components is not allowed nor the use of competition electronics. Elements such as brakes or suspensions can be improved, although never with parts used on world championship motorcycles.
They also cannot train with high level tires and are obliged to purchase tires that are sold commerciallythe same ones that any other fan would mount on his track bike.
Aleix is already counting the hours to get on his prized RSV4, a spectacular superbike with more than 215 hp of power with which Espargaró maintains intact the feeling of speed that his MotoGP RS-GP gives him. The performance of both machines is not comparable (in Montmeló the MotoGP riders are about nine seconds slower than with their prototypes), but without a doubt They are a perfect option to take references and train body and mind at almost 300 km/h.
The Aprilia Racing rider has shared an image on his social networks in which he showsr a small part of his impressive garage in Andorra; There you can see two of his machines, an Aprilia RS 250 GP with which he trains in karting and small circuits, and his big superbike, the RSV4. Espargaró published the image with the following text, and posed a question to his followers: “Preparing my Aprilia RSV4 1100 for training! It would be great to do a wildcard in SBK with it, wouldn’t it?” he dropped the Catalan.
In truth, there are few riders in the Motorcycle World Championship who have ever dared to make a wildcard in the Superbike World Championship. On the opposite side we do find many examples, the most recent that of Álvaro Bautista, who did not hesitate to accept Ducati’s invitation to race the last Malaysia event on a Desmosedici GP23, a timely return to a MotoGP paddock to which he said goodbye at the end of 2018.
You would have to go back to 2009 to find what was one of the most famous wildcards for a World Championship rider in WorldSBK. Its protagonist was none other than Marco Simoncelli; The Italian had just won his first and only 250 title in 2008 with Gilera, and taking advantage of a break between the Misano and Portugal races of the 250 cc World Championship, Simoncelli accepted Aprilia’s invitation to race as a guest in Imola, forming a pair with Max Biaggi and occupying the seat of the injured Shinya Nakano.
The one from Cattolica amazed the entire paddock in his first and only weekend on the official RSV4 of the Aprilia team; Simoncelli qualified eighth in Superpole, fought for victory in Race 1 until a crash took him out of the fight, and on Sunday, in Race 2, he crossed the finish line in third position behind the official Ducati of Michele Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga, and what hurt Biaggi the most: finishing fourth behind a 22-year-old newcomer.
Photo: WorldSBK.com
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Of course, an impeccable debut for a Simoncelli who demonstrated his worth on the Noale superbike and who only a few months later He ended up jumping to MotoGP alongside the San Carlo Honda Gresini.
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