– At Aprilia, tensions ran high after the MotoGP race in Barcelona. After the second restart, Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez battled in the first corners behind Pedro Acosta’s KTM for second place.
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As they approached the tight left-hand turn 5 during the first lap, Martin was on the outside. Fernandez tried an overtaking maneuver on the inside, but it didn’t work. He collided with Martin, who immediately crashed. Fernandez also ended up in the gravel trap.
Both continued at the back of the field. Fernandez was eventually classified 17th. Martin did not finish in the classification. This increased Martin’s championship deficit to his teammate Marco Bezzecchi to 15 points.
When Martin returned to the pits, his frustration exploded. He aggressively confronted team manager Paolo Bonora. “Yes, I want to apologize for that,” Martin said later about these scenes.
“First to the team and to Bonora because I pushed him a bit. I was so frustrated about the situation and what happened. I tried to calm myself down during the race.”
“But as soon as I came in, everything boiled over again – the tension. And yes, I want to apologize to Paolo Bonora. It was completely unnecessary that I pushed him.”
Emotions were already running high at Aprilia during the race. Immediately after the collision, Aprilia racing boss Massimo Rivola marched to the Trackhouse box and gave Davide Brivio, the US team’s team principal, an angry look.
“As for Raul,” Brivio said on DAZN Spain. “This is certainly a good opportunity for the Aprilia riders to talk to each other and act a bit smarter.”
“Because of what happened, a small gap opened at the corner entry. Raul took advantage of it, and Jorge took the line as if Raul wasn’t there,” Brivio assessed the situation.
“I don’t see clear responsibility on Raul’s side. It was only a few laps in, and Raul saw an opportunity. Could it have been avoided? Maybe.” But both riders would have had to cooperate for that.
Raul Fernandez sees no fault with himself
Fernandez also speaks of an unfortunate situation. “I came to turn 5 and was ready to overtake him,” the Trackhouse rider reports from his perspective. “At the moment I braked, I saw that he braked too early, and I attacked.”
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“At the moment I almost overtook him, he slightly straightened the bike. You can clearly see it from the helicopter or in the video. He straightened the bike.”
“Then when he saw that I was the one overtaking him, he did the same as in the sprint: he released the brake and leaned the bike back into the corner. I believe I made no mistake,” said Fernandez.
“I didn’t come too fast into this corner, I was simply overtaking. But at the moment he saw me, he straightened the bike and leaned it back in.”
“I was on my line, I overtook him, but at the moment he pushed the bike in front of my front wheel, I couldn’t do anything anymore. And at that moment we touched and both ended up in the gravel.”
As proof of his innocence, Fernandez says: “We have the data, and I clearly see there that at the moment I overtook him, he made two corners.” Nevertheless, he feels “bad” for Aprilia that both ended up in the gravel.
Martin does not want to comment on the missing penalty
And what does Martin say about the situation? “I have nothing to say about that. You can see it on TV.” The race stewards led by Simon Crafar judged it a racing incident and did not issue a penalty.
“I have no comment on that,” Martin also said about this decision. “You can watch it again on TV. The same thing happened in the sprint, again this time. That’s racing.”
Martin also crashed out in the sprint at turn 10. Although he was faster than his teammate Bezzecchi in Barcelona, he could not take the championship lead due to both retirements.
During the weekend, Martin had five crashes. There was another crash during Monday’s test. Although he was uninjured, he was taken to a hospital for examinations as a precaution.
In conclusion, Martin said he left potential unused in Barcelona: “The potential was there. I was fast in the races, so even on a really difficult weekend, I was able to fight for the win or the podium.”
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