Jorge Martin: “We don’t even stand a chance against Trackhouse Aprilia”

A bitter realisation for the Aprilia works team’s remaining frontrunner following Marco Bezzecchi’s withdrawal. Jorge Martin admitted that “we currently stand no chance against the Ducati bikes, or even against the Trackhouse bikes with supposedly identical technology. “I scored the absolute maximum number of points today,” said Jorge Martin, who remains the current World Championship leader, commenting on his performance at the Sachsenring and his fifth-place finish.

“My lead in the World Championship is simply the result of our strong start to the season. Back then, the GP-RS was working fantastically. We were able to build up a huge amount of confidence. That has changed completely,” he continued. “Today we’re watching in amazement at the stability with which our direct rivals’ bikes are performing. Meanwhile, we can’t seem to find a proper solution for the front or the rear. At this rate, I won’t be the championship leader for much longer,” said the 2024 MotoGP champion, commenting on his dilemma.

“The biggest problem is that we can’t push our limit up even a little bit. Otherwise, we immediately lose the front end of the bike,” Martin continued, thereby also providing a sound explanation for the hair-raising crashes suffered by his team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, who apparently finds it harder than Martin to recognise or accept the current limits of his factory machine.

“The summer break comes at exactly the right time for us. Although there won’t be many days off. We have to work hard to get back to the top.” The Yamaha rider for next year takes optimism from the fact that Trackhouse-Aprilia always delivers top results. “That shows us that the bikes are actually top-class. It’s now really up to us to make that happen too,” said the current factory rider for the manufacturer based in Noale, near Venice.

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Vanessa Georgoulas

Read more

A brief aside on his duel in the final laps at the Sachsenring against Ducati star Pecco Bagnaia, who was once again struggling. Jorge Martín recalled the 2024 Sachsenring GP with a smile. “It did cross my mind. Back then, I threw away the win on the penultimate lap. Bagnaia reaped the rewards. Even though we were only battling for fifth place this time, I didn’t want to do him that favour a second time, despite my stubborn Aprilia.”

Jorge Martin came through the Sachsenring race as the championship leader. Going into the summer break, the “Martinator” has racked up 208 points. Instead of Marco Bezzecchi, his closest challenger is now Ai Ogura. And already in the ranks is arguably the toughest nut to crack among the competition – world champion and Sachsenring dominator Marc Marquez.