After suffering two setbacks at Balaton and Brno, Aprilia was back on a winning streak at Assen, where it dominated the weekend. After a masterful qualifying session, in which it managed to place all four of its RS-GP bikes at the front of the grid, and following the one-two finish by the Trackhouse riders in the Sprint race, the Noale-based manufacturer secured its first one-two-three finish at Assen, monopolizing the podium with Ogura, Fernandez, and Martin. It would have been a perfect weekend, were it not for the sour note of yet another zero-point finish by Marco Bezzecchi, who crashed at 200 km/h in the early stages of the GP.
“What can I say? We’ll send him on a week-long vacation, hoping first and foremost that he’s okay and that he’s willing to go. He definitely needs a break, because lately he’s been through just about everything. So it’s understandable that he might be feeling a bit under pressure. That said, he shouldn’t have made that mistake, especially since it happened in a spot where you can really get hurt,” commented Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing, after the race. “As a manufacturer, Aprilia obviously was missing a bike. I think we had the chance to have four Aprilias up front, so it’s a shame we weren’t able to achieve what we could have.”
Bezzecchi crashed at Turn 15, the very spot where the Aprilias seemed to have the edge over their rivals.
“He was simply too fast, and honestly, I don’t think the Aprilia was that strong just in Turn 15. Usually, the Aprilia shows it has something special in all the fast sections of the circuit, but we need to give it our all with all four bikes, not just these three,” observed Rivola, who, regarding Marco’s condition, added: “I haven’t seen him yet. We’re waiting for the latest updates, and fortunately it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to worry about, but I don’t want to say anything about it right now.”
Martin, however, was the one to fly the Aprilia Racing flag high. He finished third, after setting the pace for much of the race.
“I think he had an excellent race considering his physical condition, which isn’t 100%. He got off to a perfect start and led the race for many laps. He couldn’t have done any better than that. We know that Ai, in particular, is very strong at the end of the race, and he was also very smart to settle for fighting for third place and not take any extra risks just to hang on. He really did a great job,” said the CEO, confirming that there are no issues between Jorge and the team following the incident at Balaton.
“Given that we all make mistakes, in Hungary I said that a World Champion doesn’t make these mistakes because he knows how to fight for the World Championship, which is exactly what he did here. He secured a pole position that only he could have achieved: on Friday and Saturday morning, the Aprilia wasn’t the fastest over a single lap, but he managed to take pole position thanks to his talent, and in the race he was outstanding—he got off to a great start, was pulling away, and when the Trackhouse riders began to close in, he didn’t do anything reckless but realized that finishing third was a positive result. “That’s the attitude a rider who knows how to win a World Championship needs to have,” he underlined.
Speaking about the fact that Martin still doesn’t feel entirely comfortable on the RS-GP and is still searching for a basic setup, he added: “I think he got everything he could out of it this weekend, and on both Friday and Saturday morning, he didn’t have the same confidence on the bike as the other three riders (from the team). What he did this weekend, therefore, shows that he does the right thing when it’s time to get serious. This is very important for him in terms of the championship.”
What did the Trackhouse team do better than the factory team?
“First of all, finishing the race and avoiding injury. I’m really happy for them. I’ve always said I wanted to see where they could beat us—they did it two days in a row, and I’d say that’s quite something,” Massimo replied with a laugh. “We share all the information. We have meetings where Fabiano (Sterlacchini) and our engineers share data with theirs, and we’re very happy with what they’re doing. We need them to be fast, because if they’re fast, we can be fast too.”
The history of the Pramac team shows that having a very strong satellite team can also backfire on a manufacturer’s factory team. Rivola, however, doesn’t see the American team’s competitiveness as a disadvantage: “Honestly, I’m absolutely thrilled, partly because so much of me is in that satellite team: from convincing Justin Marks—who was obviously one of the first people I thought of once I crossed the finish line— to pushing for Davide (Brivio) first and then for Francesco (Guidotti) and certain riders. Honestly, on a personal level, Trackhouse is a huge source of satisfaction, and if it’s also a motivator that drives performance, we’ve hit the jackpot! Bring it on.”
The executive concluded with a comment on Fernandez’s possible contract renewal: “I was the one who wanted Raul, so obviously I’d love that.”