Aprilia MotoGP “bad moment” is “a little bit positive” for Marco Bezzecchi

Marco Bezzecchi says the absence of Jorge Martin from the Indonesian MotoGP can be “a little bit positive” for him.

2024 MotoGP World Champion Martin is out of action this weekend after suffering a collarbone fracture in Japan last Saturday in the Sprint at Motegi.

The Spanish rider had successful surgery on the injury this week, but will not ride in Mandalika and will not be replaced.

For Bezzecchi, the absence of Martin from the garage is a “bad moment” for the Aprilia Racing squad but also an opportunity for him.

“It will be a different weekend for us,” Marco Bezzecchi said on Thursday ahead of the Indonesian Grand Prix.

“For sure, the data to [look at] will be less, but at the end, for my side, I will have all the engineers for me. 

“So, the bad moment, at the end, for me is a little bit positive as it was unfortunately in the beginning of the season. 

“We have to try to take an advantage from every situation and I will try to do it.”

Martin’s Sprint crash in Motegi saw him take out Bezzecchi, who suffered injuries to his right leg as well as his neck and back, but the Italian says he is feeling “better” now despite a “complicated” recovery after Japan.

“Honestly, the foot was not the problem, was more the leg and the knee,” Bezzecchi explained.

“But, anyway, I feel better, I feel overall a little bit better. These days were a bit complicated to try to recover as quick as possible. 

“But feeling better and hopefully this will be better day-by-day during the weekend.”

He added: “But until I riddle the bike, I don’t know. For the moment, it’s better, so we will see.”

Bagnaia smoke a “strange situation”

Bezzecchi spent much of the second half of the Japanese Grand Prix, which he eventually finished in fourth, looking ahead to plumes of smoke.

He assumed they were from Joan Mir’s bike, as he was the next one up the road, but they were in fact from Francesco Bagnaia’s. 

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider would go on to win the race despite the issue he was encountering – which he admitted after the race he was essentially unaware of at the time – but Bezzecchi felt that Bagnaia being allowed to continue circulating with so much smoke coming from his presented a “strange” safety situation.

“It was a strange situation, especially in terms of safety,” Bezzecchi said.

“I saw the smoke a couple of laps to the end and I crossed a smoke cloud, so I expected that it was Mir because he was like two or three seconds in front of me. 

“I didn’t know about anything inside the race, then [afterwards] I watched the race and I understood. For sure I was a bit surprised in terms of safety.”