New Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola has acknowledged there is a big challenge ahead if he is to return the company to its glory days but believes the ingredients for success are already in place.

The Italian has been sfuffled away from Ferrari's F1 team to head up the Noale effort and his appointment will allow Romano Albesiano to focus fully on the technical aspects of bike development.

"There is a big challenge in front of me as there are a lot of people I need to know in the company, in the paddock and around the world,” said Rivola.

“The target for this season is to grow, especially on the bike. My personal target is to take all the things that are not technical from Romano Albesiano who is a great technical director to let him develop the bike and allow him more time to concentrate on the performance.”

“I don’t know the riders, none of them, I will meet them soon and I am quite keen to meet them soon. I think Aleix is a fighter and I like this approach and I think what I ask of him is to keep doing that.

"Regarding Andrea, he is a big talent and I think the experience he had at Ducati and Suzuki made him a better and a more complete rider, more mature for sure, and I also expect him to be a team-working rider and someone who can lead the team together with Aleix. If we have a good team working we will have a big margin to improve."