Aprilia officially returned to racing in the African desert, and they did it in grand style – with a win. Astride his Aprilia Tuareg, Jacopo Cerutti took a spectacular win in the first leg of the Africa Eco Race, from Nador to Boudnib, in Morocco. Check out the Aprilia team’s efforts… Press Release: Aprilia. 

Aprilia officially returned to racing in the African desert yesterday, and they did it in grand style - with a win. Astride his Aprilia Tuareg, Jacopo Cerutti took a spectacular win in the first leg of the Africa Eco Race.

Aprilia officially returned to racing in the African desert, and they did it in grand style – with a win. Astride his Aprilia Tuareg, Jacopo Cerutti took a spectacular win in the first leg of the Africa Eco Race.

It was a historic day for all of Aprilia Racing who, along with GCorse, launched the ambitious “Back to Africa” project less than one year ago with the goal of getting Aprilia back in the great African rally raids.

There was no better way for Aprilia to return to competing on the legendary African Desert tracks, where they had been protagonists in the period between 2010 and 2012 (to this day, Aprilia remains the last Italian brand to have won a leg in the Dakar, in 2012).

It was a historic day for all of Aprilia Racing who, along with GCorse, launched the ambitious “Back to Africa” project less than one year ago with the goal of getting Aprilia back in the great African rally raids.

It was a historic day for all of Aprilia Racing who, along with GCorse, launched the ambitious “Back to Africa” project less than one year ago with the goal of getting Aprilia back in the great African rally raids.

Credit for this milestone – besides the experience and speed of Jacopo Cerutti – goes to the great off-road capabilities of the standard factory Aprilia Tuareg, a bike which already won at its début in the Italian Motorally Championship and for which it took just a few months of development before proving to be immediately victorious in one of the most demanding rally raids in the world.

The first leg, 598 km long, had the riders busy with 174 km of special trials, at the end of which, Jacopo Cerutti managed to create a gap of almost 2 minutes ahead of his two most accredited rivals, Alessandro Botturi and Pol Tarres, both on Yamaha. 

Credit for this milestone - besides the experience and speed of Jacopo Cerutti - goes to the great off-road capabilities of the standard factory Aprilia Tuareg, a bike which already won at its début in the Italian Motorally Championship.

Credit for this milestone – besides the experience and speed of Jacopo Cerutti – goes to the great off-road capabilities of the standard factory Aprilia Tuareg, a bike which already won at its début in the Italian Motorally Championship.

And, in his first ever desert racing experience, Francesco Montanari, with the other Aprilia Tuareg, finished the day with a good eleventh place, just over 15 minutes behind his more experienced teammate and rather close to the top-five finishers.

JACOPO CERUTTI: “It’s really great to begin this adventure ahead of the rest. As I said the day before we started, I had hoped to be out front in some of the legs and managing to do so straight away really energises us ahead of the coming days of racing. It was a leg without any great difficulties, with slow sections alternating with other, faster ones, and on fairly flat terrain, but complicated enough in terms of navigation. A lot of riders made some mistakes, whereas I probably did not make as many, which helped me. I was immediately at ease on the bike, which allowed me to set a good pace straight away and so, at the end of the day, this nice win came. Having taken Aprilia back to winning in the African desert makes me proud and I’m enjoying the moment, but my mind is already on tomorrow’s leg!”

In his first ever desert racing experience, Francesco Montanari, with the other Aprilia Tuareg, finished the day with a good eleventh place, just over 15 minutes behind his more experienced teammate and rather close to the top-five finishers.

In his first ever desert racing experience, Francesco Montanari, with the other Aprilia Tuareg, finished the day with a good eleventh place, just over 15 minutes behind his more experienced teammate.

FRANCESCO MONTANARI: “Being my first experience in this type of race, I am satisfied with yesterday’s result. I tried to make it a clean ride, without overdoing it, and that allowed me to maintain a good pace for the entire duration of the leg. The only thing that’s a pity is the navigation mistake in the initial phases. The dust kicked up by the rider who started ahead of me – who I was getting close to – made me miss a turn and that cost me a couple minutes. As for the rest, there were no particular problems. The bike works really well, so I’m looking forward to today’s stage with great confidence!”

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