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The first day of testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia provided a bitter surprise for Aprilia, which had to witness Jorge Martin's nasty highside at Turn 2 in the early stages of testing. A crash, that of the reigning world champion, in which the Spaniard suffered a double fracture in his left foot and right hand. To this bad setback, was then added the wrist injury suffered by Raul Fernandez. Both riders will therefore have to abandon testing to return to Europe and undergo surgery.
Particularly disappointed by these events is Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola, who can find no explanation for what happened. From the data reportedly it does not seem to have been either a rider error or a technical problem with the bike, but he remains optimistic about the Spanish champion's recovery time, hoping to see him on track as early as the first round of the season in Buriram. It is clear, however, that this is a heavy setback for Noale at such a delicate time as pre-season testing, and one that will force the Veneto manufacturer to rely completely on the feedback of Marco Bezzecchi alone to direct the development of the RS-GP25, with the help of Lorenzo Savadori to complete the amount of testing still to be done.
Today's was a difficult start to testing and the season for Aprilia.
"What happened today is a real shame. We said at the presentation how the first phase would be one of adaptation, and at the moment that phase has fallen by the wayside," commented Massimo Rivola, at the end of a dark first day of testing that saw two of the four riders on the RS-GPs injured, Martin and Fernandez, " but we are maintaining our optimism and trying to stay positive. We know that Martin will recover from the injury and come back even stronger, but obviously this is a problem. It was a bad highside that he was involved in this morning, apparently without any reason or error on the part of the rider or the bike."
Was Martin riding on the limit in both crashes?
"This is interesting, he was using the same set of tires and the same bike. After the first crash he told us that it had never happened to him to crash like that, if I remember correctly it was Turn 1. He then went back to the pit, taking the same bike again, and in Turn 2 the same thing happened with the throttle closed. In the first crash he was on the right side, while the second one was on the left side."
Which bike was he riding on?
"The plan today was very simple, one of the two bikes was the one already seen in Barcelona with some 2025 updates. The other one was a new setup but not yet completely 2025 because we still had to test many components. We know that Marco had very good feeling on the 2025, which is very good news, but on the other hand Martin crashed right away, came back and crashed again. He is a world champion it is true, but he is not an amateur, and the bike had no problems."
Could it have been a tire-related problem?
"The tires were at the right temperature and pressure, all this is really inexplicable because the bike launched him with the throttle closed. His tire was an asymmetrical medium, quite close to soft, so at the moment we don't have an exact explanation."
Have you had a chance to talk with Michelin?
"I talked to Michelin to ask them about the history of this tire, because if it's one of those tires that stays a year locked in the container, it's not good. They haven't told me anything about it so far, though, but they will let us know."
You have a lot of experience in racing, the worst thing is not knowing why things happen. You are surrounded by engineers, and no one can find an answer?
"The engineers are not idiots, but I still underline that Martin did not make any mistakes, from the data you can see that he was not on the gas and the bike had no problems. I think you can find the answer yourself."
How disappointed are you?
"I am very bitter about this, because we make incredible efforts, especially over the winter and everyone put their face on it. That's exactly why we came up with this graphic on the fairing, to give credit to the whole working group and the work done. Of course I'm pissed off, also because the rider was stoked like a fireman and came here taking everything slowly. During the first run he was lapping very calmly compared to Bezzecchi, since he didn't have his pace. Later Bez started pushing hard while Martin could not get under the 2'01" wall. The fact is that the crash was not down to him or the bike."
How will you react? You will probably rely on Lorenzo Savadori.
"It's not the team's mistake, and all we have to do is look ahead. We will have to react with Marco Bezzecchi, who is doing a great job. He worked all day today with one tire, even though the others were lowering their times. Bezzecchi is working with a mode and a mentality to make the bike improve. Martin will not be able to do that, and as a result it will be up to Marco to prepare the best bike according to what his indications are. Obviously something will be done by Savadori as well. Unfortunately we took a knockout punch, but I think Martin will come back stronger."
Do you already have any timelines for his recovery?
"At the moment the plan is the following: in the first 24 hours he will have to stay in the hospital as per protocol and considering that he hit the ground very hard, tomorrow he will come out and fly to Barcelona for surgery on his left foot and right hand, from there we will see how his body will react for the recovery also of the hematomas and the rest. The very positive news is that the MRI for concussion was negative, in that sense we were lucky considering the dynamics of the accident. After that we are confident that he can be back on track as early as the first race in Thailand. We have seen miracles from other riders in the past, they are superheroes not men, and Martin will definitely want to think about being there in Thailand. He has already said he will try, and I have no doubt about that, he is a rider who needs to be held down rather than pushed, although his approach is really great. Obviously we will still take Savadori for further testing but it might still be possible to see Martin on track as early as FP1 on Friday in Buriram."
Added to this is also the injury of Raul Fernandez.
"Raul's case is completely different, today he will already be back in Europe and tomorrow he will already be operated on, for the dynamics of the fall I prefer to let you speak directly with Davide Brivio."
Don't you think a third rider may be needed?
"It might be the case. But in the end you make choices, and we have put a lot of money on Marco and Jorge this year, betting a lot on them."
