Last weekend in Olbia, a vibrant city in northeastern Sardinia, Jacopo Cerutti and the Aprilia Tuareg Racing team lined up for the Sardinian round of the FIM Europe Baja Championship on a Tuareg Rally pulled straight from the production line. No factory build, no exotic one-offs. The same bike you can buy today.
He won.
The Sardinian Baja is no parade lap – long, brutal special stages through terrain that separates serious off-road hardware from the rest. Cerutti, already a two-time Africa Eco Race winner and the dominant force in Italian and European rally raid, put the stock Tuareg Rally on top of the results sheet without breaking a sweat – or the rulebook.
What changed from showroom spec? Almost nothing.
Rims swapped for mousse-compatible rally tyres. An Öhlins shock bolted to the rear. Cerutti’s personal navigation tower, seat, and bars fitted to match his taller, race-honed ergonomics.
That’s the list. The engine, frame, suspension internals, exhaust – all production.
That last point deserves attention. The Tuareg Rally comes standard with a titanium SC Project exhaust with a 60mm race-cap; KYB suspension with 240mm of travel and linear-rate springs tuned for off-road feel; Ergal spoked wheels with tube-type knobby tyres; and an engine map dialled for instant, aggressive throttle response. The aluminium sump guard is thick enough to shrug off rock strikes while handguards have aluminium cores. A chain guide is standard fit.
The seat sits 20mm higher than the standard Tuareg – designed specifically for the stand-to-sit transitions that define hard enduro and rally riding. All-up weight: 199kg wet.
Aprilia didn’t build a race replica and call it production. They built a production bike that wins races. Cerutti just proved it.
