#derbi

A bit of a short blogpost this week since this is that time in my writing schedule where I've just posted a chapter of Fastest of the Prancing Horses, have to post this month's chapter of Racing in the Golden Age, and then back to Fastest of the Prancing Horses for that story's biweekly uploads. Self-imposed fanfic upload schedules aside, let's talk motorcycles.

Who is the Ferrari of motorcycles?

Ducati comes to mind first, being Italian and red and heavily associated with racing. The fact that when Ducati entered MotoGP in 2003, it had a very Ferrari like set of sponsors didn't hurt either. Marlboro and Shell at first, then Telecom Italia's Alice brand got involved in the late 2000s, and after diverging a bit in the early 2010s - when Ducati had a sponsorship with Mercedes-AMG of all people - they both wound up with Philip Morris' Mission Winnow as a sponsor.

And around the same time as Mission Winnow, both gained Lenovo sponsorships. Ferrari's Lenovo deal seemed to only last for 2018 and 2019 and has recently been replaced by a title sponsorship from HP, whilst the ties between Ducati and Lenovo have only grown stronger, becoming a title sponsorship from 2021 onwards.

So, the sponsorship is very similar, but it's not the same.

Plus, there's now a pretty big stumbling block to the whole Ducati = Ferrari thing.

That being that Ducati is owned by Lamborghini. Yup, in 2012, Ducati was acquired by Audi - which itself is part of the Volkswagen Group - and Ducati was placed under the control of Lamborghini. So, in a funny little shell game, Ducati was owned by Lamborghini who was owned by Audi who was owned by Volkswagen.

So yes, Ducati may have the superficial resemblance to Ferrari, but being owned by Ferrari's greatest rival kinda breaks the whole comparison.

Another thing that doesn't help is that Ducati's Grand Prix racing history is rather recent. Sure, their history with superbikes and the Isle of Man TT, with famous riders like Mike Hailwood and Carl Fogarty, but they did not have that MotoGP pedigree until 2003 onwards. Even then, Ducati only had a single 2007 championship until their recent (2022-present) success.

So, how about someone who does have GP pedigree?

MV Agusta.

The massive amount of success that MV Agusta had with the likes of John Surtees, Guy Hawking, Mike Hailwood, the great Giacomo Agostini, and Phil Reed gave MV a stranglehold over the 500cc class from 1958 to 1974, a level of domination that Ferrari could only dream of.

The problem is that, since then, MV Agusta hasn't really had the money to race.

They've tried a couple of times, with various Superbike and Supersport efforts, most prominently with Reparto Corse who is still in WSSP, as well as a brief partnership with Forward Racing in Moto2 between 2019 and 2022. None of this compares to MV Agusta's past greatness, and none of it is really comparable to Ferrari either.

That being said, on the road bike side, I think MV Agusta matches Ferrari in terms of being these rare, expensive, incredibly desirable things. Ducati is no slouch either in that regard, but, come on, just look at a MV Agusta F4 or Superveloce and tell me those aren't some of the most beautiful motorcycles ever made.

So MV Agusta and Ducati both meet some criteria, but both fail at some others.

So here is another contender: Aprilia.

Now, Aprilia's racing history started rather recently, but they've done a lot in that time - their 125cc and 250cc bikes dominated the lower classes of GP racing in the 90s and 2000s, with riders like Max Biaggi, Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Alvaro Bautista, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Marquez all taking championships on board their bikes and then going on to have massively successful careers.

Even once the two-stroke success dried up, Aprilia took the fight to World Superbikes, winning the 2010 and 2012 titles with Max Biaggi and then the 2014 title with Sylvain Guintoli. The likes of Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri also took wins on the Aprilia WSBK bikes at this time.

Their factory team efforts ceased in 2015, but that was because Aprilia was entering MotoGP.

First with Gresini, Aprilia began a long preparation period, but come 2022, Aprilia was ready. Gresini went its own way as a Ducati satellite team, while Aprilia entered a full factory effort with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales.

Aleix would win in the third race of the season at Argentina and finish fourth in the standings while Maverick took three podiums and an eleventh place finish.

In 2023, Aleix would win at Britain and then sweep the weekend at Catalunya to finish sixth in the standings, while Maverick Vinales was just behind him in seventh. That Catalunya race would also mark Aprilia's first 1-2 finish.

2024 wasn't as strong, but Maverick Vinales still swept the weekend at COTA on his way to a seventh-place championship finish, whilst Aleix Espargaro won the sprint race at Catalunya for the second year in a row, a fine feather in the cap for his retirement year, even if he did slip to eleventh in the standings in the process.

Now, with Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin as their riders - and Jorge having the option to put the #1 plate on the Aprilia if he so chooses - Aprilia is certainly on the way up in MotoGP.

Oh, and the team is run by former Ferrari man Massimo Rivola.

If that's still not enough to convince you, then let me take you back to the 90s when, for a brief period of time, it seemed like the Piaggio Group (Aprilia's parent company) and Fiat (then Ferrari's parent company) were on the verge of a merger.

Giovannino Agnelli - the nephew of Fiat supremo GIanni Agnelli and the son of Antonella Becchi Luserna Piaggio, the adopted daughter of Enrico Piaggio - became President of Piaggio in 1993. In 1995, Gianni Agnelli officially named Giovannino his successor...only for Giovannino to pass away from cancer in December 1997.

Gianni Angelli would die in January 2003, with the Ferrari F2003-GA named in his honor.

Had Giovannino not predeceased his grandfather, Aprilia and Ferrari could well now be sister companies.

Another side effect of the whole Piaggio ownership thing is that Aprilia's sister companies include Moto Guzzi, Gilera, and Derbi, and those brands certainly fill out Aprilia's racing history.

Gilera was the first giant of 500cc motorcycle racing, winning six titles between 1950 and 1957. while Moto Guzzi wasn't quite as successful with its 500cc V8, it did win the very first 250cc championship in 1949, as well as five consecutive 350cc titles from 1953 to 1957.

As for Derbi, it had a ton of success in 50cc and 125cc GP racing with Angel Nieto in the 70s, and then later on during the golden age of two-stroke Aprilias, Aprilia had some of their bikes badged as a Gilera or as a Derbi.

Marco Simoncelli won the 2008 250cc title on a Gilera whilst Marc Marquez's aforementioned 2010 125cc title was on a Derbi.

So, when you put it like that, Aprilia does have a pretty consistent history in GP racing after all, huh?

Well, if none of those convinced you, there's a surprise fourth candidate, because the rumor mill is that, with KTM's financial difficulties, Lewis Hamilton is in talks to invest in the KTM MotoGP team. So, there is a possibility that we'll see a MotoGP team owned by a Ferrari Formula One driver in the near future.

Yup, after all these Italian companies, the Ferrari of MotoGP might end up being the road racing arm of an Austrian dirt bike company.

10 spanish motorcycles.

Montesa Impala

Bultaco Lobito mk3

Derbi Mulhacén 659

Ossa Yankee 500

Rieju MR 300

Sanglas 400

Derbi GPR 75

Pursang e-track

Ossa Enduro