The entire Aprilia organisation joined the men and women of the Reparto Corse motorsports division at the Noale headquarters to celebrate the triumphant victory of Max Biaggi and his Aprilia RSV4 at Brno. In the tenth round of the World Superbike Championship at the Czech racetrack, Biaggi scored his first victory with the Aprilia RSV4 - which made its debut this year - in race 1, and confirmed the outstanding capabilities of the RSV4 with a second place finish in race 2.
Max Biaggi wanted to share his elation with the entire Aprilia staff, recalling his past successes with the Veneto based marque between 1994 and 1996, when he secured three consecutive world championships in the 250 class: "I am thrilled to be celebrating this first ecstatic win together with you all. I am truly proud to be representing you on the track, bringing all of your hard work to fruition. During the final lap at Brno, I relived all of my wins with Aprilia bikes from '92 on, and I think that I must be the rider who owes more of his success to this brand than anyone else. I still remember the elation and enthusiasm of my whole team back then standing behind the pit wall! I truly hope that this is a sign of an excellent 2010 season, and not just on the race track".
Leo Francesco Mercanti, head of product development and motorsports activities for the Piaggio Group, played host for the celebration, welcoming Biaggi on behalf of everyone present and commenting: "The win at Brno is an extraordinary result because, in an incredibly short period of time, it has taken the Aprilia RSV4 onto the highest step on the podium. This is a bike that expresses the state of the art in engine technology and is the result of the extraordinary expertise and passion of the Aprilia brand and the entire Piaggio Group. The win at Brno is an extremely satisfactory result for us as it is a major first, and we hope that - as has happened in the past - this victory marks the beginning of a successful period for the brand in terms of both racing and sales. We believe strongly in the revolutionary RSV4 project and that racing, passion and victory are the greatest contribution that we can make to revitalise the market.
This year, with the launch of the four-cylinder RSV4 Factory, Aprilia - a marque with 40 world championships under its belt, 33 of which in MotoGP - has made a return to the world Superbike championship, the series reserved for production derived bikes. Aprilia had already competed in SBK from 1999 to 2002 with the RSV Mille twin, scoring eight wins - seven with rider Troy Corser and one, the last before Biaggi's recent victory, with Regis Laconi in 2001.
In the beginning of its debut season, Aprilia RSV4 has already demonstrated its impressive potential by securing - in addition to the win at Brno - four podium placings and remaining consistently at the top end of the classification. Aprilia RSV4 Factory is a race machine adopting totally innovative design and constructional solutions. The one litre, narrow V4 engine, state of the art electronics, ultra lightness and compactness and an infinitely adjustable chassis are just some of the characteristics that make it such a unique motorcycle.