Marco Bezzecchi
Aprilia will run an exciting rider pairing in 2025 after signing Ducati duo Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi.
The former won the 2024 championship with Pramac while the latter struggled with one podium with VR46, finishing 12th in the standings. Being a three-time race winner, Bezzecchi gives Aprilia a solid rider line-up with Martin alongside him.
Optimism was high at Aprilia heading into pre-season testing in Malaysia. However, that came crashing down after Martin suffered fractures in his right hand and left hand from a violent highside on day one.
The defending champion was ruled out of the rest of testing and will likely miss this week’s test in Buriram. Things got worse for Aprilia when Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez also crashed on day one and suffered a fracture to his hand.
Marco Bezzecchi’s eyes sparkled ‘madly’ when talking about his first laps on Aprilia’s 2025 bike
Aprilia chief Massimo Rivola ruled out rider error or a mechanical issue with Martin’s crash, instead pinning the blame on tyre supplier Michelin.
Bezzecchi questioned the tyre allocation for the test in Sepang, claiming there were too few soft tyres available. Michelin pleaded their innocence with Piero Taramasso saying Martin was outpacing his rivals when looking at the data, suggesting he had grip with the medium compound.
With Martin and Fernandez out, Aprilia had to rely on Bezzecchi and rookie Ai Ogura to gather data in Sepang – two riders who had limited to no experience on the RS-GP25.
READ MORE: MotoGP will ‘probably’ make one Michelin tyre rule change after Jorge Martin crash
Bezzecchi finished the final day of testing in ninth, eight tenths behind time setter Alex Marquez on his Gresini Ducati. When the Italian returned to the paddock, his expression spoke volumes about his thoughts of the new machine.
In a report by Speedweek, while the likes of Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo lauded the performance of Honda and Yamaha, Bezzecchi’s ‘eyes sparkle madly as he raves about his first fast laps’ on the RS-GP25.
It may be too early to judge whether Aprilia will have the pace to compete at the front. But judging by Bezzecchi’s early indications, things may not be looking too positive at the Noale-based manufacturer.
Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin gave similar feedback to Aprilia
It may not be just the Italian who has negative feelings about the RS-GP25. Paolo Biasio was surprised by Martin and Bezzecchi’s ‘precise’ similarities in their feedback in Malaysia.
The two riders outlined possible areas to improve on their 2025 bike. With Bezzecchi’s ‘mad’ look after testing and Martin’s crash, Aprilia have got off to a nightmare start.
One positive to come from it is Martin may have a ‘get out of jail free card’ after his crash. He will no longer be expected to win the first race or defend his MotoGP crown as his injuries will affect him for the rest of the year.
The Spaniard did not think he would win the championship before his accident anyway. Martin is targeting a title challenge in 2026 with Aprilia before the new technical regulations come into affect in 2027.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
