Aprilia slips up on its home tracks: Rivola admits missed World Championship opportunities

Two MotoGP weekends on circuits that suited the Aprilia RS-GP were expected to provide an opportunity in the title race to make up ground on defending champion Marc Marquez (Ducati) and build up a lead in the World Championship ahead of the final stretch. However, following Mandalika and Phillip Island, the results are sobering: Jorge Martin has lost the championship lead to Marc Marquez and is injured. Marco Bezzecchi was unable to close the gap despite a Grand Prix victory.

Ahead of the Indonesian Grand Prix, Martin led on 333 points, ahead of Marquez on 331 and Bezzecchi on 284. After Phillip Island, Marquez stands on 365 points, Martin on 355 and Bezzecchi on 315. Martin has thus lost twelve points to his title rival. Bezzecchi lost a further three points: his deficit has widened from 47 to 50 points.

Rivola is disillusioned: “We didn’t capitalise on our chances”

Aprilia racing director Massimo Rivola therefore did not dispute this when asked about the missed opportunities. “No, we didn’t capitalise on those chances at all. I think it’s obvious that Aprilia has an advantage on these two circuits in dry conditions,” explained the Italian.

The Grand Prix at Mandalika in particular demonstrated just how great the potential was. Bezzecchi won ahead of Raul Fernandez, Martin and Ai Ogura. Aprilia took the top four positions for the first time, whilst Marquez, as the best Ducati rider, could only manage sixth. Yet this historic success could not fully make up for the losses of the previous day.

Massimo Rivola zog eine ernüchternde Zwischenbilanz

Foto: Gold & Goose

Topic of the week

Soon-to-be world champion Kimi Antonelli: The inevitable will then follow in Mexico

The 20-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli had the chance to secure the 2026 World Championship title at the US Grand Prix. He did everything right: victory in Texas. The title celebrations have nevertheless been postponed. Until Mexico.

Read More

TV Program

Live

Sepang: International Livestream

MotoGP World Championship

30.10.2026 - 01:55

In the Indonesian Sprint, Bezzecchi was forced to retire in the very first corner following a pile-up. Martin took the lead and looked set for victory. However, low front tyre pressure forced him to let Marquez past. A late mistake cost him two further places. Marquez won, whilst Martin finished only fourth.

Martin failed to make the most of the opportunity on Sunday as well. Although third place behind Bezzecchi and Fernández restored his lead in the World Championship, given Aprilia’s dominance, another opportunity went unused. Over the entire Mandalika weekend, Martin and Marquez each scored 22 points. Bezzecchi finished just three points ahead of the Ducati rider.

Aprilia strong in Australia only in dry conditions

The next opportunity came at Phillip Island. In dry qualifying, Bezzecchi led ahead of Fernandez, Marquez, Ogura and Martin. Four Aprilia bikes in the top five confirmed that the RS-GP performed superbly on the fast Australian circuit.

However, the change in weather on Saturday altered the starting position. Bezzecchi cost himself a good starting position with a poor qualifying session. In the dry sprint race, he fought his way back up the field after a poor start, but could not go beyond fourth place. He lost six points to the winner, Marquez.

Martin, on the other hand, was in immediate contention for victory. He and Marquez swapped the lead several times before the Aprilia rider suffered a heavy crash in the fast Turn 8 on Lap 8. Instead of crucial points, he was left with a broken spoke and a premature end to his weekend.

Race cancellation had both pros and cons for Aprilia

The cancellation of the main race at least limited the damage to Martin’s campaign. As the race could not go ahead due to restricted visibility and the rescue helicopter being unable to operate effectively, Marquez was denied the opportunity to extend his lead further.

However, Bezzecchi also lost the chance to strike back on Sunday as a result. “It would have been one more race for me, an opportunity I could have capitalised on,” commented the Italian. “We’ll never know how it would have turned out. That makes me sad. Now we have four more races to go, the next one as early as this coming weekend. I’m really happy to be travelling to Malaysia and racing there again. I can hardly wait.”

Aprilia heads to Malaysia trailing by ten points for Martin and 50 for Bezzecchi. It remains to be seen whether Martin will even be able to compete at Sepang. Surgery does not appear to be necessary at present, though Rivola described a return this coming weekend as very unlikely.

Aprilia-Rennleiter Massimo Rivola mit Luigi Dall'Igna von Ducati

Foto: Gold & Goose

Of all times, Sepang is next up – a circuit that is likely to suit Ducati better. Furthermore, the staging of the subsequent Qatar Grand Prix is not entirely certain due to the unrest in the region. This makes it difficult for Aprilia to plan for the remainder of the title fight.

Nevertheless, Rivola does not want to base expectations for the remaining races solely on the balance of power seen so far. “At the same time, I want to think positively and believe that even tracks which are supposedly not our kind of track could at least be good for scoring points. But we can’t know that until we’ve raced there,” emphasised the Aprilia racing director.