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Marco Bezzecchi made no excuses, coming in 13th in the morning and 12th in pre-qualifying. Even if he revealed that he was slowed down while he was on the attack, in an attempt to get into the Top 10, the 26-year-old acknowledged that he was never in tune with the track and had a bike in his hands that wasn't yet capable of aiming high, at least in Jerez.
"We made some improvements throughout the day, even though we're still struggling. Also, there were yellow flags in the second time attack, so I couldn't improve. To get into the Q2, I would've had to lower the time by a tenth. You don't make history with ifs and buts, but I'd have tried. Overall, there was some progress, but we're still a long way off, consequently, there's going to be work to do tonight. Is tomorrow's Q2 feasible? That's the goal, and I'll give everything to achieve it," the Aprilia rider commented.
"We grew from the morning to the afternoon, but we still suffer with the new tires. In my first attempt I took a big risk and was able to get a good time. But, then, like I said, the yellow flags bothered me. Evidently, I was in the wrong place, bit I gave it my all. We're still a bit lacking in terms of stability when braking and acceleration, so we'll have to find a solution," he then went into more detail.
And, in relation to the response of his RS-GP25, the rider from Romagna stated: "The track is fantastic and now much safer in some corners. After the flood, they did a great job. Since it's a narrow track with tight corners and, coming from a layout as wide as a highway like Lusail, it's not easy for our bike, in light of the current issues. But that's how it is, and we'll have to roll up our sleeves to fix it."
"On some circuits, the bike reacts better than on others. In Doha, like here, Friday proved more complex than in Austin or Thailand. In testing, we reached a good level, while the others hid. From there on, there wasn't much variation. In any case, we'll continue to work and try to make progress," he added. "Where the stability problem comes from, in entering, like in exiting, I don't know exactly. I think it's the result of a combination of aspects. So, at the moment, I'm not asking the team for anything specific but, along with the engineers, we're analyzing to find a solution. On the positive side, all of us Aprilia riders give the same feedback. For example, Ogura, who's very fast in time attacks, complains about the same things that I'm unhappy about. That said, the defect is less obvious than the Barcelona tests. Clearly, now that we have to push and to keep up with the others, we struggle more."
Modifying the set-up could help. "We can change something but, when you find a good foundation, it's best to adapt it to each track than adjust it. You can try, but finding some new solution is preferable," he argued.
When he was asked about the resources the Noale-based manufacturer is putting into development, the native from Rimini said: "I don't know what they are. Certainly, Savadori is doing the maximum although, at the same time, an extra rider would be useful. Because of Martin Lorenzo's absence, Lorenzo is acting as a test rider and rider, and not being able to test on race weekends becomes more complex."
