Jorge Martin the fastest Aprilia: "Soon we’ll be able to battle”

Jorge Martin’s Friday at the new Balaton Park circuit in Hungary began with the reigning MotoGP champion parking his RS-GP in the gravel after a speculator engine failure.

But the day ended with Martin as the top Aprilia rider, and just 0.001s from Fabio Quartararo and a top ten place for direct Qualifying 2 access.

“No [regrets],” Martin told MotoGP.com when asked about getting so close to Qualifying 2.

“For sure I would like to be in Q2 but I did my best today. We are making bigger steps forward.

“Today the feeling was fantastic. We didn’t touch the bike set-up, we just focused more on the gearbox for this new track. But we are in a good direction.

“I improved a bit the front feeling so I can turn a bit more, then I can go on a better line and open a bit earlier the throttle.

“We have to continue like this. In terms of pace, I feel much, much stronger than in Austria. I can ride by my own. So this is important.”

Martin added: “I don’t think we’re far off in terms of pace, but on the flying lap, I still don’t have the confidence I need to push to the limit.

“I’m satisfied with the result… soon we’ll be able to battle.”

Team-mate Marco Bezzecchi’s day went in the opposite direction, slipping from  sixth in FP1 to twelfth in the afternoon Practice.

“It was a difficult day for us,” admitted Bezzecchi, who has risen to fourth in the world championship after podiums in three of the last four GPs. 

“The track is quite beautiful, maybe a little bit small for MotoGP but I had fun riding and I enjoyed especially sector 2.

“Overall, I struggled a bit in braking, to stop the bike in the proper way. And here with many corners in succession, if you don’t stop well, it’s difficult to make the perfect lap.

“I expected a bit more from the time attack, but I didn’t feel help from the soft rear in braking, so we’ll work on this tonight.”

Martin and Bezzecchi will face the likes of Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio di Giannantonio in Saturday’s Qualifying 1.