Marco Bezzecchi
Jorge Martin joined Aprilia as the defending MotoGP riders’ champion, but his injury woes delayed the Spaniard’s adaptation to the RS-GP25 more than Marco Bezzecchi.
The Noale squad welcomed an all-new rider line-up for the 2025 MotoGP season, as Martin moved across from Pramac and Bezzecchi arrived from VR46. But Aprilia are yet to have the best version of Martin on their bike as he had to skip 10 of the first 11 rounds of the season.
Martin is now trying to find his groove on the RS-GP25, whereas Bezzecchi discovered what Aprilia’s bike is capable of earlier in 2025 and he is now fighting for third place in the riders’ standings. Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia leads Bezzecchi for the bronze medal by eight points.
Bezzecchi won the Misano Sprint from pole position, before he also fought Ducati ace Marc Marquez for victory in last Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix. Second place by 0.568 seconds further marked the Italian’s sixth podium of 2025 and his fifth in the last seven Grands Prix.
Massimo Rivola expects tension to build between Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi
Aprilia also saw Martin and Bezzecchi help each other at the San Marino GP last weekend. A Q1 position likely beckoned for the former before Bezzecchi gave Martin a tow in practice at Misano, which shot the Spaniard into the automatic Q2 places before he then qualified P11.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
Martin also returned the favour when he gave Bezzecchi a tow during Q2 to help the Italian score pole position for the San Marino GP. But while Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola enjoys the atmosphere between Martin and Bezzecchi, he expects to see friction build between them.
“I’m proud of Jorge and Marco because there’s a great atmosphere in the garage, which I hope will remain the same even when they’re both at the top,” Rivola said, via Motosprint.
“If that were the case, managing them would be a problem we’d be happy to have to face, because two such strong riders shouldn’t be friends. But it’s nice to see the mutual respect.”
Jorge Martin must improve his qualifying to rival Marco Bezzecchi at the front
Martin and Bezzecchi are yet to fight for a result as Aprilia teammates, following the former missing the first three rounds after fracturing his left hand and then a further seven after he broke 11 ribs and suffered a hemopneumothorax on his debut for Aprilia in April’s Qatar GP.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marco Bezzecchi from net worth to race number
His injuries have left Martin playing catch-up, and he was still on the sidelines whilst Aprilia saw Bezzecchi win the British GP at Silverstone in May. The 26-year-old has also made the podium with his P2s in the Netherlands, Czechia and Misano plus P3 in Austria and Hungary.
Martin finished the Czech GP in P4 for his best result as an Aprilia rider so far. But after only managing to qualify P18 for the Catalan GP, Martin admitted he must improve his results in qualifying. And only once Martin fixes his qualifying form may Rivola’s prediction come true.
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