The factory Aprilia team was dealt a direct defeat by its satellite squad Trackhouse in the MotoGP Dutch Grand Prix sprint, with both Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin suffering for different reasons at Assen.
Championship leader Bezzecchi crossed the finish line two seconds down on race winner Raul Fernandez in fourth place, while 2024 champion Martin held off the charging Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia by less than a tenth of a second to take fifth.
While these results marked a significant improvement after two disastrous weekends for the Noale team in Balaton Park and Brno, the factory squad left something on the table, with Fernandez and Ai Ogura finishing first and second aboard their satellite RS-GPs. Further, the duo also lost out to Fabio di Giannantonio on the best of the six Ducatis.
Bezzecchi lined up on the outside of the front row but went in too hot at Turn 9 on the opening lap, dropping to fifth behind di Giannantonio.
While he was able to overtake team-mate Martin midway through the race to reclaim fourth, he had no answer to the podium runners, ending up a second adrift of di Giannantonio at the finish line.
Having been fastest in all three practice sessions in the build-up to qualifying and the sprint, Bezzecchi couldn’t explain why he lacked the pace in the early stages before the race started coming back towards him.
“I struggled a bit more in the first couple of laps,” he admitted. ”I’ve been struggling a bit after the start and I got overtaken by Raul, who was starting behind me and also from Diggia, who was also starting behind me.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
“So, I lost a couple of positions and I couldn’t feel super good in the first three laps. And in the sprint, these first three laps are mandatory [for a good result].
“After, I started to feel better and better, and my pace was slightly better, but it was a little bit too late and I was only able to finish in fourth place.
“It’s true that I felt very well in the practice sessions with medium and also with the soft, but in the sprint, in the first couple of laps, I felt a little bit worse. So we have to understand this.”
Bezzecchi pointed to two areas that impacted his performance in the early laps at Assen.
“A bit of feeling [was missing] and a bit more movement [on the bike] compared to normal. Overall, these were the two main problems,” he said.
What went wrong with Martin?
In contrast with Bezzecchi, Martin’s pace faded later in the race. The polesitter lost out early to Ogura on the run down to Turn 1, but passed him shortly afterwards to reclaim the lead.
However, his stint at the front turned out to be short-lived as Fernandez shot past him at the final chicane on lap 3, before he tumbled further down the order on the following tour.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
After coming off worse in a battle with team-mate Bezzecchi, he spent the final laps of the race fending off the factory Ducatis of Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. While he ultimately held on to fifth, he finished the race 4.5s behind race winner Fernandez.
Martin suggested the changes his crew made to the RS-GP to fine tune the bike to his liking left him struggling with a lack of rear grip.
“Honestly, I was really happy after qualifying to be back in pole position after almost two years. I was so happy and I was ready for the race,” he said. “When the race started, I was feeling good in the first few corners. I was able to be in first, but then I saw I had no real grip and I was suffering the whole way till the end.
“Every lap was a bit worse and worse, and at the end I was just trying to keep that position till the end. It was difficult the last three laps to maintain the Ducatis behind, but a very bad feeling compared to the rest of the weekend.
“So I guess something strange happened today. I think that’s why my lack of performance in the sprint.
“I don’t know exactly what it was, but the real grip wasn’t there. I had no contact with the rear, so I started to struggle, but this is part of the process of getting to know the Aprilia a bit more.
“We are changing things on the bike and sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and today it wasn’t the right way, so tomorrow we will bounce back.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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