APRILIA CONFIRM MOTOGP RETURN

November 6, 2013 7:57 AM AWST

After Suzuki announced earlier this year that they will be returning to MotoGP in 2015, Aprilia announced at the EICMA International Motorcycle Exhibition in Milan, Italy, that they will return to premier class competition in 2016.

Aprilia already supply engines for some of the CRT entrants, but the 2016 return will be a full factory effort. The Italian marque was last part of the World Championship as a factory team in 2004.

Aprilia's return will see them as the fifth manufacturer on the MotoGP grid in 2016, joining Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Ducati.

Riders are yet to be confirmed, but Marco Melandri, and Aprilia's World Superbike riders for this season, Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty, may be possibilities.