How Aprilia reached MotoGP’s summit: ‘Ideas come from people that are not shy’
Aprilia’s RS-GP has utterly dominated the start of 2026, so how did MotoGP’s smallest manufacturer get here and what does Ducati need to do to close the gap?
MotoGP 2019 season begins in Qatar on weekend of March 8, ending at Valencia
MotoGP has announced its 2019 calendar with the European leg of the season beginning on May 5 with a summer break coming after the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.
Once again the season ends at Valencia, this time on November 17.
More: MotoGP 2019’s biggest battle: Ducati v Honda
| Date | Grand Prix | Circuit |
|---|---|---|
| March 10 | Qatar | Losail |
| March 31 | Argentina | Termas de Río Hondo |
| April 14 | Americas | COTA |
| May 5 | Spanish | Jerez |
| May 19 | French | Le Mans |
| June 2 | Italian | Mugello |
| June 16 | Catalan | Catalunya |
| June 30 | Dutch | Assen |
| July 7 | German | Sachsenring |
| August 4 | Czech | Brno |
| August 11 | Austrian | Spielberg |
| August 25 | British | Silverstone |
| September 15 | San Marino | Misano |
| September 22 | Aragón | Aragón |
| October 6 | Thai | Buriram |
| October 20 | Japanese | Motegi |
| October 27 | Australian | Phillip Island |
| November 3 | Malaysian | Sepang |
| November 17 | Valencia | Valencia |
Aprilia’s RS-GP has utterly dominated the start of 2026, so how did MotoGP’s smallest manufacturer get here and what does Ducati need to do to close the gap?
Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi is dominating the 2026 MotoGP season with the same quiet, truculent self-assurance that has always made him impossible to ignore, and even harder to interview
The first Brazilian MotoGP round in 22 years was characterised by a track that was falling apart, not that Bezzecchi and Aprilia seemed to mind
These are happy days for Aprilia, which leads the MotoGP constructors' championship for the first time in its history. And there’s no one better to tell its story than team manager Paolo Bonora, who joined Aprilia in 2002 to do pioneering electronics work on the Cube MotoGP bike