Four races to forget
The last rounds before the summer break were definitely difficult to face for the Aprilia factory team. After Marco Bezzecchi’s triumph at Mugello, the light went out and the Italian collected just 13 points in four weekends (out of a possible maximum of 148), moreover getting injured and falling from first to fourth place in the world championship standings. At the halfway point of this year’s first summer break, following Sachsenring, the world championship lead is in the hands of Jorge Martin who, however, after Mugello has only been on the podium at Assen, moreover finishing third behind the two riders of the Trackhouse customer team, Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez.
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In the same period, however, Marc Marquez has recorded three GP wins and two Sprint wins in four weekends, dangerously closing in on the top of the standings which now is just 18 points away for him. So, in Noale, this break was mainly used to reorganize ideas and try to find that mental serenity that characterized the first races of the year, when Bezzecchi was simply unbeatable and Martin’s feeling with the RS-GP26 seemed much better than what was seen after the turning point weekend in Barcelona; due to the numerous crashes faced in Catalonia, the 2024 world champion has progressively lost confidence in the bike.
All equal (and all against Marquez)
The bogeyman is naturally represented by Marquez, who is hunting for his tenth career title and looks like a hungry shark in front of a bleeding prey. However, Aprilia is confident it can react: the RS-GP26 is still the easiest bike to push to the limit, as evidenced by the increasingly frequent exploits of Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez with the Trackhouse team bikes.
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Those who think there are tensions inside the Noale box or between the factory team and the American ‘customers’ are wrong. Aprilia’s intention is to make everyone row in the same direction: the belief circulating is that the title can be won and Marquez is beatable, provided that concentration is kept high and above all they do not bend under pressure. Put simply: the bike is there, but from Silverstone onwards the riders must also show up. Blanks like Bezzecchi’s at Assen will no longer be acceptable.
From a technical point of view, finally, Noale’s policy does not change: the four bikes (factory and customers) will continue to have the same material available, as has been the case since the beginning of the year. At most, some components of any updates could – for purely logistical reasons – arrive in the Trackhouse box with a weekend delay compared to the factory team. But this is a common practice recently explained by Trackhouse team principal Davide Brivio himself. The choice to avoid favoritism is logical: making the most of the potential of all four bikes could allow Aprilia to counter Marc Marquez’s comeback with more weapons. The hope nurtured in Noale is that in the second half of the season the negative period will vanish, that Bezzecchi (although still not at 100% physical condition) will regain mental serenity and Martin his speed, and that Marquez’s assault will be repelled.
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