Aprilia is ready to enter the 2008 FIM SuperMoto GP campaign with a strong line up.
DRC Aprilia Off Road will line up two Italian riders; Ivan Lazzarini will race in the S1 class while Massimo Beltrami will be in the S2 class, as the Italian manufacturer aims at winning their first title with a home rider. Team PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road will have Luca Minutilli in the S2 class.
In order to optimize the Aprilia Off Road Racing activities and logistics, multiple World Champion Thierry Van Den Bosch will be inside the DRC structure while Christian Iddon will be under the PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road tent during the race weekends.
Each team will carry on their development work separately but the data from all the riders will be available for the overall development of the SXV machinery. Though Van Den Bosch will play a leading role in this process because of his experience and his long time partnership with Aprilia ‰ÛÒthree consecutive years.
The whole Aprilia squad with the riders on the bottom line; (from left to right) Massimo Beltrami, Ivan Lazzarini, Thierry Van Den Bosch, Christian Iddon and Luca Minutilli
Aprilia Off Road‰Ûªs technical director Ennio Marchesin, who supervises the whole Motocross, Enduro and SuperMoto activity of Aprilia, explained the major changes that happened in between 2004, Aprilia‰Ûªs first year in World SuperMoto, and 2008. The manufacturer started with three factory riders onboard prototype machines to arrive in 2008 with five riders onboard Replica SXV bikes.
In the meantime Aprilia has won the 2004 (Jerome Giraudo) and 2006 (Thierry Van Den Bosch) riders‰Ûª World Titles, and two manufacturers‰Ûª Titles (2006 and 2007). In 2007, the best placed Aprilia rider in the S1 World Championship was Thierry Van Den Bosch, second, while Christian Iddon took a superb third in the S2 class.
Main Photo: The whole Aprilia squad with the riders on the bottom line; (from left to right) Massimo Beltrami, Ivan Lazzarini, Thierry Van Den Bosch, Christian Iddon and Luca Minutilli
