Aprilia team returns RSV4 to the WorldSBK for 2020
Aprilia returns to the 2020 WorldSBK fray as Italian outfit Nuova M2 confirms Christophe Ponsson will ride an Aprilia RSV4 in five wildcard outings
Aprilia will be represented once more in the 2020 WorldSBK Championship as the Nuova M2 team formalised its wildcard plans for the remainder of the season by confirming more rounds than initially planned.
One of Aprilia’s best established partners, the outfit became a front-runner using RSV4 machinery in the European Superstock 1000 series before transitioning to Superbikes in the domestic CIV series in recent years.
Now Nuova M2 will move on into the WorldSBK Championship with a five-round stint using the venerable RSV4 and rider Christophe Ponsson, last year’s Spanish Superbike Champion.
The team had always planned to race in 2020 but the more Iberian-Italian centred calendar shuffle has allowed it to expand on its intentions to include events in Jerez, Portimao, Aragon, Catalunya and Magny-Cours.
“I am very pleased that Nuova M2 Racing will debut at WorldSBK with five wildcard appearances,” said team manager Enzo Chiapello. “We started shyly as a team in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and won in 2015, the year of our debut with Lorenzo Savadori
“The team continues to grow, the partnership with Aprilia Racing is consolidated and together with Massimo Rivola we have managed to forge this precious opportunity to compete as a wildcard by providing Christophe Ponsson with an Aprilia RSV4 1000 specially prepared for regulation from WorldSBK.
“Chris has evolved a lot in the past few years and we hope he can have good races. I must personally thank the sponsors who along with Aprilia give us the opportunity to embark on this new adventure.”
Bringing the number of represented manufacturers in WorldSBK to six, it will be the first time Aprilia – champions in 2010, 2012 and 2014 with Max Biaggi and Sylvain Guintoli - has been represented on the WorldSBK grid since 2018.
