First Aprilia win for Jorge Martin: “I’m back to my top level”

– Aprilia made history at the French Grand Prix. For the first time, the Italian brand took the top three spots in a MotoGP race. It was the twelfth win in the premier class and the 306th win across all classes in the Motorcycle World Championship.

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After his sprint win, Jorge Martin won a Grand Prix for Aprilia for the first time. It was his first victory since Indonesia 2024, 588 days ago. Martin also won for the first time starting from a grid position outside the first two rows.

After the first lap, Martin was only seventh. How did he still manage to win? “That’s a good question,” he answers. “I think last year I learned to never give up.”

“Today was one of those races where I didn’t have a good start but never gave up. Yesterday it was much easier with a clear track. But I tried to overtake rider by rider.”

“I saw Marco and the front riders, I caught up bit by bit lap by lap. So in the end, I still had something left in reserve, but I gave it my all. My heart was pounding out there.”

“I’m really happy about the work we’ve done with Aprilia. I still need to work on riding in traffic in races like today because that’s really hard for me. When I’m at the front, I can ride good lines.”

On his charge to victory, Martin first overtook Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), and then Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati). Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) retired due to a crash.

After Martin overtook Pedro Acosta’s KTM, only his teammate Marco Bezzecchi was ahead of him. Lap by lap he closed in and made the decisive overtaking move on the 24th of 27 laps.

Bezzecchi explains why he lost

Where was Martin better? “Well, I don’t know exactly,” Bezzecchi considers. “Jorge felt comfortable with the bike right from Friday. He got stronger day by day without making big changes to the bike.”

“It was just one of those weekends where you could see from the outside that he felt comfortable. I tried to improve over the weekend, but I was the exact opposite of Jorge. I never really felt comfortable.”

“Even when I improved, I never really had the confidence in the bike that I wanted. And that made me push the tires hard to compensate.”

“And yes, the result was that I lost pace in the last seven, eight laps. It wasn’t enough. The race was incredibly long, very, very difficult. I didn’t expect to lead so many laps.”

“When I started and was in front, I honestly expected to be overtaken quite soon because I knew my pace wasn’t the best. I couldn’t really push, couldn’t brake as I wanted.”

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“The front wheel feeling wasn’t as good as maybe in previous races,” Bezzecchi describes his problems. That he still finished second makes him very happy.

He has now been on the podium in all five Grands Prix. The last rider to achieve this was his Italian compatriot Valentino Rossi in 2015. “Yes, I gave it my all,” Bezzecchi sums up.

“I’m very, very satisfied after a difficult weekend. We take a very good sprint and also a very good Grand Prix with us. So yes, I’m happy.”

Martin confident: Back to his top form

A duel between the two Aprilia riders is shaping up in the World Championship. Bezzecchi leads after five race weekends by only one point ahead of Martin. Di Giannantonio is already 44 points behind in third.

Is Martin back to his top form from 2024? “Yes, definitely. I’m really happy to be back at my top level,” says Martin. “I think I’m a better rider now than in 2024, for sure.”

“And in this sport it’s like this: either you get better or you get worse. You don’t stay at the same level. The competitors keep getting better and better. So you have to improve your skills to keep up.”

“I think this year Marco made the difference. Now I’m trying to reach those skills. But for example, yesterday before the sprint we made some setup changes.”

“That means I haven’t found my base yet. I’m working on that. I think that will be the key, that I have the bike fully tailored to me in the upcoming races and then I can just ride.”

Next weekend, MotoGP visits the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Martin celebrated his world championship title at the end of 2024. Was Le Mans now the starting signal for a new winning streak?

Martin doesn’t want to think about that: “I think Barcelona was one of the toughest races for us, for Aprilia, last year. So you never know. The most important thing is to keep working hard.”

“Let’s stick together as we are doing now and try to get the maximum points. But I think it will be a really tough weekend for us, so we have to be highly focused.”

Aprilia leads the manufacturers’ standings after five race weekends with a 34-point lead over Ducati.

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