Aprilia Racing’s start to the 2026 MotoGP season has been impressive, with four of the top five bikes on Sunday being RS-GPs – a clear sign the manufacturer is mounting a serious challenge to Ducati’s recent dominance.
We had the opportunity to speak with Elena De Cia, the team’s Control Strategies and Support Data Models Manager, to understand the critical role data analysis plays in their success. Having seen her on the podium celebrating that opening-round victory, we wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes.
Q: As a Control Strategies and Support Data Models Manager, could you tell us what your job typically entails?
De Cia: Yeah, of course. I’m in charge of all the data that we receive from the bike – what we can learn from the sensors, but also what we can change on the delivery from the engine in different situations that the rider encounters during the track. So the engine brake, the traction control, the wheelie control.
You know, the time you have inside the box between each run is really short, and the performance level now is really high. So we need to focus on what we can improve. In a short time, we need to understand the rider’s requests and try to understand if overall the bike package is working well.
Q: When a rider is on the bike, they have a feeling or physical understanding of what’s happening, and your numbers may show something else. How do you find that middle ground?
De Cia: This is one of the most challenging moments, because it’s really important that the rider explains what he really feels. This is important for us because each rider communicates with us with a different language, different types of expression. So it’s important for us to understand what is the real meaning he wants to give us. Sometimes maybe we need to repeat to him in a different way – maybe explain the topic differently – and then he says, “Ah yeah, this is what I want to say.”
So sometimes it’s important to try to arrive at a common ground. And if the rider feels that this type of maneuver or what he needs is important for him, but the performance is different, finally when you show the data and say “please try this” and then we compare, then we decide together. Both the riders and also us as engineers try to understand and keep the mind open to try different solutions, because the conditions and situation are always changing. Sometimes you also seen on TV that many times you can do the same lap time but with completely different lines, different systems. So it’s really important.
Q: Does this mean there is a lot of variance between two different riders on the same bike? Can you tell which rider is who by just looking at the numbers?
De Cia: Yeah, finally when you start to look at the data race by race, you understand their way to use the throttle, the brake, and yeah, you can recognize them looking at the data. This is really interesting.
Q: When a rider moves from one team to another, it’s a big change. For someone in your role making a switch to a different team, is it as big a change, or can you take a similar approach to the numbers and analytics?
De Cia: I think for sure the tools change, but the type of mindset you use to analyze the data is, I think, a common way to try to enter into the details. So of course each type of bike needs or has some really powerful points, and you try to focus more on other points to bring the level up. So of course you will concentrate on some points compared to others, but the mind, the type of mind you want to use, is the same. So it changes, but not so much.
Q: Would you say that even though it is a very statistical role, there’s still a lot of creative approaches that you have to take to find a solution?
De Cia: Yeah, of course. You have to push for some new ideas, some new ways to look at the data. If I look at myself from 10 years ago, I was looking in a different way. So each time you are growing up, the way of working evolves.
Q: Which brings me to my next question. You’ve been doing this for over 10 years now. Has it changed a lot with more electronics, different added systems? Has it gotten more difficult?
De Cia: Well, more difficult, yes, but also more interesting because each year you acquire more sensors. You connect the signals and the information and the data more to have a clearer way to understand what is happening. So you also get closer to the real situation. More often you really understand what the rider says because you can see this from the data.
But on the other side, you have so many data, so much information, that you need to build new systems, new ways to look at the data. Because you cannot look just one line, one line, because you have so many. And you have to think how to be efficient – like alarms for the really important topics.
Q: Speaking of, how many different channels of information or different data points are you working with?
De Cia: We have hundreds of channels, and some channels are acquired each millisecond. So each millisecond we have one number, and you can understand during a long race the amount (of data). But not only the acquired data – all the information that we have is a really huge number for each area of working. So it means engine, sensors, dynamics, tyres. So there is a huge, huge number.
Q: Is there a particular area of the bike or some department that currently there are no sensors to monitor, but if you had the technology, it would be perfect to have that understanding?
De Cia: Yeah, there is not one specific area, but of course something that we could not have due to the rules is the GPS – that will change next year with the new regulations. But of course there are many things, and also you see that the rider is moving a lot. So there are many things that would be interesting to have many, many more sensors.
Q: Does that mean next year is going to be more of a level starting ground for everybody? Or is there a lot of information you can take from the current RS-GP to start off on a strong foot next year?
De Cia: Well, I think it will really depend on the tests we will do during this season with both the tyres – the new tyres, the new supplier – but also the new bike itself. This can help us to understand, like the dictionary, the translation from the current bike with the current set of tyres to the new one. So how to adapt and to be really fast to adapt for next season’s races.
Q: Is there a particular track that’s harder to work with? Do conditions – for example, last week in Thailand was very hot, very humid – does that make it more challenging in your role as well?
De Cia: Yes, I think that the first race, Chang, is really a demanding track for many reasons. It is particular, peculiar, but also more challenging. So it’s always a balance, no? Because when you have to refine hundreds of small optimizations, it’s also more challenging for all the team. So yeah, there are some tracks (that are difficult). I think that Chang is one of those.
Q: All the best for the rest of the season. Hopefully you guys will celebrate a championship at the end of the year.
De Cia: Thank you. Thank you so much. We always push like Antonio says – we always push to give the maximum. So we know that there will be good races, maybe more difficult, but we always want to push to the maximum. This is our goal, of course.
