Aprilia MotoGP boss rues Jorge Martin’s “serious misjudgement” in Motegi smash

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola has branded Jorge Martin’s Turn 1 smash with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix sprint a “serious misjudgement”.

After a tricky qualifying left him 17th on the grid, reigning world champion Jorge Martin tried to make up ground off the line in Saturday’s sprint at Motegi.

But he got out of shape on the brakes for Turn 1 and crashed, slamming into team-mate Marco Bezzecchi and disrupting a number of riders around him.

Martin suffered a displaced fracture in the crash and has been ruled out of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, with the Spaniard returning to Spain for surgery on Monday.

Bezzecchi escaped with only a contusion to his leg.

Rivola says Aprilia is “lucky” to have only has only lost one of its factory riders from the weekend in the accident and offered his sympathies to Martin, whose year has already been plagued by injuries.

“Jorge and, especially, Marco did not start from the grid positions they deserved,” he began.

“A serious misjudgement under braking by Jorge unfortunately caused a heavy crash for both of them.

“Looking at what happened, we are lucky that only one rider was injured and that Marco, in the end, did not suffer any fractures.

“We are sorry to hear that Jorge will once again have to undergo surgery, after what has been a difficult season to say the least.

“The work of Aprilia Racing nevertheless continues at full pace: we know that on Sunday, Marco, even if not in top condition, will still be able to deliver a great race and we will do everything possible to give him the best bike we can.”

The double DNF for the factory Aprilia team on Saturday proved costly in its battle for second in the constructors’ championship with KTM.

Pedro Acosta was third or the Austrian brand in the sprint, narrowing the gap between the marques to 18 points ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.

Aprilia’s top scorer in the sprint was Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez in eighth.