Aprilia bike revamp keeps Aspar for 2014

Aprilia has kept its link with the high-profile Aspar squad after vowing to give its ART 1000cc MotoGP bike a radical makeover for 2014.

Torn between continuing with Aprilia or switching to campaign Honda’s all-new RCV1000R production racer next season, the Spanish squad will stay as the Italian factory’s number one team after outlining ambitious upgrade plans for its premier class project.

A new engine with pneumatic valves, new chassis and aerodynamics package and a seamless shift gearbox has convinced Jorge Martinez’s Aspar squad to continue with Aprilia.

Aspar boss Gino Borsoi told MCN: “Aprilia has decided to build a completely new bike. Maybe we have a new fairing before the end of the season and maybe a new seamless gearbox. They have already tried it on a standard bike and they are happy. They have to make a lot of tests but to use these updates in a race is not good because if you have some problem you throw away one race and that makes no sense.”

The new pneumatic valve motor is unlikely to be raced in 2013 and Borsoi added: “We don’t know when the engine will be ready. I hope at the beginning of next season but it is not sure right now. It depends if they have some technical issues or not. If they put the new engine on the bench at the end of this month and it works well then maybe we can have it at the beginning of the season.”

Explaining why it had knocked back the opportunity to buy Honda’s new production racer Borsoi added: “We have a really good connection with Aprilia and a lot of data and we have worked together to improve this bike, so we know what we need. And behind us we will have a factory that will work together with us and not just getting a bike from Honda to run.”