Encouraging start for Aprilia Racing at Motegi

Sep 26, 2025 Michael Le Pard News

Published Sep 26, 2025 by Michael Le Pard

MARCO BEZZECCHI LEADS PRACTICE – JORGE MARTÍN THIRTEENTH AND WILL HAVE TO TAKE PART IN Q1
The first practice day at the Mobility Resort Motegi Circuit saw a strong start for Aprilia Racing. Marco Bezzecchi faced a tough FP1: first, he crashed in the opening minutes at turn 1, then had a second fall at turn 5 about 15 minutes from the end while on his second bike. Despite only completing a few laps in the morning, Bezzecchi demonstrated great confidence with the RS-GP25 during practice, finishing the session in first place and earning direct access to Q2.

After a strong FP1, where he finished second, Jorge Martín suffered two crashes during practice – the first at turn 5, then another at turn 7 – which greatly limited the time he had to improve his lap times. Martín finished the session in thirteenth place and will have to participate in Q1 on Saturday.

Raúl Fernández from the Trackhouse MotoGP Team also delivered a notable performance, finishing practice in ninth place and qualifying directly for Q2 alongside Bezzecchi.
The day didn’t start off on the best note, but we managed to turn it around. Leaving aside the two mistakes in the morning, I was confident and kept pushing because I felt a great connection with the bike. I’m very happy and want to thank all the guys on my team who did a great job fixing the bikes, especially the first one, which was quite badly damaged.
In the morning, I felt good, but in the afternoon, I lacked confidence with the front and crashed twice. The two crashes cost me a lot of track time, and by the time I rejoined, the time-attack was already underway, so I had to go out on a bike and setup I’d never tried before. Even so, in the first time-attack, I placed fourth, but during the second attempt, there were a lot of yellow flags. The feeling was positive nonetheless, and on Saturday we’ll try to take another step forward.
It was definitely a good start for Marco: despite two crashes in the morning, he regained confidence in the afternoon. He posted the fastest time of the session, showing a great feeling with the bike. Unfortunately, with Jorge, we couldn’t get him fully comfortable on the brakes, and after two crashes in the afternoon, he just missed out on Q2. We still have one more session to improve the setup before the sprint and the race.

2026 Newest Bike Reviews

TMW 2026 Motorcycle Model Review Guides