Aprilia withdraw from Moto2 series
Added on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Aprilia withdraw from Moto2 series
Aprilia have issued a major setback to the new Moto2 series after announcing that they had withdrawn their intention to compete in the championship, claiming that doing so would be “useless and harmful”.
Aprilia, who have a strong pedigree in the MotoGP support classes with nine championships in 250cc and nine in 125cc racing, have criticised the decision to run a single-engine championship, suggesting that it could be harmful to the Aprilia brand and do little to assist the development of Aprilia motorcycles.
All motorcycles in the Moto2 championship will use a 600cc engine provided by Honda although teams would be free to choose their own chassis provider. The withdrawal of Aprilia leaves several leading teams, including Mapfre Aspar and Speedup Aprilia, to either source a new chassis or to make do with what Aprilia have already developed.
A statement issued by Aprilia read: “It would be useless and harmful to the image of a large Italian and European motorcycle manufacturer, which has won 43 world titles in road racing and off road competition, to take part in a competition which relies on engine technology by a rival constructor.”
The decision does not affect Aprilia’s operations in the 125cc series, which sits under the Moto2 championship.
