Aprilia RS 660 conquers America
ALESSANDRO DI MARIO IS 2024 MOTOAMERICA TWINS CUP CHAMPION
The 15-year-old rookie Alessandro Di Mario is the new Twins Cup Champion in MotoAmerica, riding the Aprilia RS 660 for Team Rodio Racing — Powered by Robem Engineering. At the recent Circuit of the Americas race weekend, Di Mario secured the pole position and won both races to become the second rider to win the Twins Cup title, a class dedicated to twin-cylinder bikes, on an Aprilia RS 660.
Di Mario arrived at COTA 19 points behind the championship leader and clinched the title after a dominant weekend. He was the fastest rider in every practice session and qualifying, winning both Twins Cup races with significant margins and securing the title with a 31-point lead.
Di Mario, the 15-year-old from Kentucky, completed his rookie season in Twins Cup with three wins, six additional podium finishes and three pole positions in 12 races, becoming the second rider to win a Twins Cup title on an Aprilia RS 660.
Aprilia has now won half of the championships it has contested since homologating the RS 660 for MotoAmerica Twins Cup in 2021, where it won the championship in its first year. The RS 660 continues to deliver high levels of performance and competitiveness, as shown by its excellent results in MotoAmerica. In the 2024 season, it secured 17 podiums finishes over 12 races and has achieved over 70 podiums in the Twins Cup Championship since its debut four seasons ago. In the final 2024 Twins Cup championship standings, five of the Top 10 riders raced an Aprilia RS 660.
ALESSANDRO DI MARIO
“I am extremely happy to have won the championship. I couldn’t have done it without the support of all my sponsors, my fantastic team, and the Aprilia RS 660, which has proven to be a winner once again. Thank you all!.”
MASSIMO RIVOLA
“I would like to congratulate Alessandro Di Mario and the Rodio Racing Team Powered by Robem Engineering for winning the Twins Cup title in MotoAmerica. Despite being only 15 years old, Alessandro has shown great speed, talent, and the ability to fight. The combination with the Aprilia RS 660 was perfect, winning the championship for the second time in its four years of participation in the Twins Cup. This is the best way to consolidate a path that will take it to world competitions soon.”
More, from a press release issued by Rodio Racing:
Di Mario claims pole, wins two races to clinch the 2024 MotoAmerica Twins Cup title
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering rider, Twins Cup rookie caps off season with dominant performance Sept. 13-15 at Circuit of the Americas
AUSTIN, Texas – It turned out to be a dream rookie campaign for Alessandro Di Mario in the MotoAmerica Twins Cup. The Kentuckian and 2022 Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award winner capped off his first year racing in Twins Cup with a perfect weekend – pole position, two race wins and a come-from-behind effort to capture the 2024 Twins Cup title.
Di Mario started the Sept. 13-15 round at the Circuit of the Americas with a 19-point deficit in the Twins Cup points standings, but his dominant form – along with his chief rival in the championship battle enduring several setbacks – enabled Di Mario to win the title by a 31-point margin. The title is a testament to Di Mario’s consistently strong results this season despite racing in a new class. In the 12 Twins Cup contests held in 2024, Di Mario scored three victories, six additional podium finishes and three pole positions.
The championship also marked the second Twins Cup title won by an Aprilia rider in the last four years. The Robem Engineering team won the 2021 title with rider Kaleb De Keyrel in Aprilia’s debut season in the class.
Di Mario’s teammate, Gus Rodio, also had a positive end to what turned into a challenging season. He qualified just off the front row in fourth place and earned third- and fourth-place finishes in the races on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to finish the season fourth in the points standings.
Both Di Mario and Rodio showed strong pace from the start of the weekend. Di Mario topped the time sheets in Friday morning practice with a 2:18.270 lap time, and Rodio ended that session sixth-fastest. Di Mario’s pace improved later Friday in Qualifying 1, where he lowered his best time of the weekend to a 2:17.742 — which was 2.280 seconds faster than the next-fastest rider in the session. Rodio showed an even bigger improvement as he shaved more than two seconds off his best time from practice to provisionally qualify fourth.
Qualifying wrapped up Saturday morning with Di Mario having claimed pole position. He went more than half a second faster than in Qualifying 1 to take pole by 0.812 seconds. Rodio lowered his best lap time of the weekend to a 2:20.827, which was good enough for fourth place on the starting grid for the round’s two Twins Cup contests.
Later Saturday in Race 1, Di Mario didn’t get the best jump off the line but quickly made his way to the front before the field had reached Turn 1. Di Mario was in firm control of the race lead when the race was stopped on Lap 4 due to a crash. When racing resumed with five laps to go, Di Mario again led the field at the end of Lap 1 – and every lap thereafter. He went on to take the win by almost seven seconds – his second victory of the season – and assumed the points lead for the first time in his Twins Cup career. Rodio also had a very good race, as he joined his teammate on the podium with a third-place finish.
Sunday afternoon’s Race 2 had Di Mario’s dominant form on full, uninterrupted display as he capped off his title-winning season on the top step of the podium. Di Mario and his chief rival raced each other hard for the first few corners of the opening lap, but Di Mario’s fast and consistent pace allowed him to gradually pull away and build a large gap to the rest of the field. Di Mario’s margin of victory was more than 6.5 seconds, and a technical problem for his chief rival’s motorcycle allowed Di Mario to finish the season with a 31-point advantage in the championship standings.
Alessandro Di Mario / No. 27
“I am extremely happy to have won the championship. I couldn’t have done it without all my sponsors and my amazing team. Thank you everyone!”
Gus Rodio / No. 96
“I had a great day on my Aprilia RS 660 on Saturday. We missed a lot of track time earlier in the weekend, so we were super happy to get a podium finish. We struggled very hard this weekend, but it was so nice to get my bike back to feeling like one with it. I’m also happy with the season overall. It was one of those seasons that makes you appreciate when everything goes smooth that much more. I’m excited for what the future holds, and I want to thank the whole Robem team and my Rodio side of the team. I know Robem will be in my corner with anything I need for the rest of my career, and I’m so thankful to have built such a strong relationship with the team.”
Rodio Racing – Powered by Robem Engineering’s technical partners for the 2024 season include Spellcaster Productions, Luxestar VIP, Geoscape Solar, MAR Contractors, Blud Lubricants, Spiegler Performance, Woodcraft Technologies, Dymag Performance Wheels, Millennium Technologies, Sprint Filter, Dunlop, SC Project, MVR Endeavor, GRG Designs, REB Graphics, NGK Spark Plugs, EvolveGT, Bitubo Suspension and N2 Racing
