Marco Bezzecchi on Jorge Martin: “Sometimes we were angry with each other”

Three-time MotoGP race winner Marco Bezzecchi has opened up about his changing relationship with Jorge Martin.

Martin infamously crashed at the Sepang test at the beginning of this year, ending his preseason after only 13 laps, and then crashed while training the week before the Thai Grand Prix at the end of February, resulting in further injuries that have seen the reigning World Champion unable to race at the opening three races of the season.

The Spanish rider is due to return at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, but fellow first-year Aprilia rider Bezzecchi – whose history with Martin is littered with disagreements – says that it has been hard for Aprilia to be without their new star signing.

“Not having Jorge [Martin] is difficult for us,” Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com during the Grand Prix of the Americas weekend.

“In the past, we had some tough times, especially when we were young. At the beginning of Moto2 and Moto3, we always had some troubles – sometimes we were angry with each other – but it’s normal.

“Now we grow up a lot, and fortunately our relationship now is okay. Of course, we are not best friends, I would not go to dinner or somewhere else with him, but we respect each other.

“I respect him a lot because he’s an unbelievable rider, always really fast, always really strong, and I think he does the same with me.

“So, now we are feeling good, and hopefully sharing the box also for this season can improve our relationship day-by-day and maybe by the end of the year we go also to dinner.”

Martin’s absence meant that, in his first year as a factory rider, Bezzecchi had the full attention of Aprilia’s engineers, who were requiring his feedback to understand the future direction of the RS-GP’s development.

“It was a strange winter because I was alone in the box,” said Bezzecchi.

“It was tough to get used to this position for me because it was already my first time in a factory team and, in my case, all of Aprilia Racing was pointing on my shoulders, and the attention that you have from all the engineers is 10-times bigger.

“It’s cool because you develop a MotoGP bike, but also you have to take some difficult decisions, so the behaviour of the bike also depends on what you say in your comments.”

Marco Bezzecchi: 'Main rival of Ducati is... Ducati'

Having left what is now the official Ducati satellite team in the VR46 Racing Team for his Aprilia Racing berth, Bezzecchi’s ambition is understandably for Aprilia to be challenging what at the moment is MotoGP’s dominant factory, with the hope that being technically comparable with Ducati will make the Bezzecchi-Aprilia partnership one that is capable of fighting for a title.

“At the moment, the main rival of Ducati is Ducati, because they have many riders and many teams,” Bezzecchi explained.

“We are getting better and better and we are always a bit more competitive compared to the past. So, the target is to be, in the future – as soon as possible – the main rival to not only Ducati but to all the manufacturers and to all the riders.”

He added: “Of course, I would like to make some good results as soon as possible, I would love to get a podium with my new team, my new bike. So, this is my first target.

“I wouldn’t race if I didn’t dream of becoming a MotoGP World Champion, so of course I hope that me plus Aprilia– we can try to fight for the championship and try to achieve this dream that we both have.”