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"Arnaud Vincent is the exact opposite of most of his 125-class rivals. They are young teenagers, groomed for stardom, carefully mentored, well sponsored. He is a 27-year-old racing loner, who came GP racing relatively late, on his own resources. And triumphed in the hardest-fought championship of the year." - Motocourse 2002-2003.

Aprilia's relatively recent rise to prominence as a motorcycle manufacturer has been aided in no small measure by successes gained on the racetrack, particularly in Grands Prix where Max Biaggi's three consecutive 250cc-class World Championships between 1994-1996 confirmed the Italian firm's ability to compete at the highest level.

Having introduced its 250-class racer in 1985, it would be another six years before Aprilia got around to fielding a '125' contender. Introduced in 1991, the RS125R would go on to win 10 World Championships (one rebranded as a Derbi and one as a Gilera). By 2002 Aprilia had ceased to field a full works team in the 125cc class, but as there were no fewer than 14 of their machines on the grid they could perhaps be forgiven for preferring quantity to quality.

By the time 2002 rolled around, Arnaud Vincent had enjoyed four full years of contesting the 125cc World Championship: three with Aprilia and one with Honda. Born in Nancy, France in 1974, Vincent worked as a motorcycle mechanic to finance his racing: motocross to begin with and then road racing from the age of 20. Vincent secured his first win in his second full World Championship season of 1999 (at Catalunya), which he followed up with another victory the following year in South Africa. A switch from Aprilia to Honda for 2001 would prove a step backwards, but Vincent was back in the Noale fold for 2002, dominating the season with five victories across the 16 rounds: Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal and Malaysia. He beat Manuel Poggiali (Gilera) by 19 points to become France's first-ever World Champion in the 125cc class.

According to documentation on file, this machine, carrying Vincent's racing number '21', is the actual motorcycle ridden by him to win the 2002 125cc World Championship, and not a replica or later works copy. Following Vincent's retirement from Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1996 season, this motorcycle was sold directly to Roberto Cevolini, President of ADV, the organisation that collaborated closely with Aprilia in the 125cc and later MotoGP categories. Accompanying the machine, the original contract of sale, naming both Cevolini as the seller and our vendor as the buyer, explicitly identifies this machine as Arnaud Vincent's 2002 championship-winning Aprilia.

This motorcycle is an exceptionally important example of early-2000s Grand Prix racing technology (the engine turns over). As such, it represents a rare opportunity to acquire a fully documented World Championship-winning Grand Prix racing motorcycle from the modern era, with excellent provenance and direct association with the rider.

Following a period of inactivity, this motorcycle will require recommissioning and/or restoration to a greater or lesser extent before returning to the track and thus is sold strictly as viewed. Prospective purchasers should satisfy themselves with regard to this motorcycle's completeness, history, authenticity, originality and mechanical condition prior to bidding.
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