Marco Bezzecchi “still suffering” effects of Jorge Martin MotoGP crash in Indonesia

The after-effects of his crash with Jorge Martin in the Japanese MotoGP Sprint continue to bother Marco Bezzecchi at the Indonesian Grand Prix, the Italian says.

Bezzecchi was the biggest victim – aside from Jorge Martin himself, perhaps – of his Aprilia Racing teammate’s misjudgement of the first corner at Motegi last Saturday (27 September) at the beginning of the MotoGP Sprint there.

Martin is ruled out of this weekend’s Indonesian race after breaking his collarbone in the crash. The 2024 MotoGP World Champion will also miss Australia, as confirmed by Aprilia today (Friday 3 October) in Indonesia.

Bezzecchi, on the other hand, suffered leg and back injuries, but he was surprised by which affected him more on the first day in Indonesia, which he ended as the fastest rider overall by 0.408 seconds over Fermin Aldeguer.

“It was a good day for us,” Marco Bezzecchi said after Practice on Friday in Indonesia.

“It wasn’t easy because it was difficult, the track condition was tough – especially this afternoon. 

“Also, physically still I’m suffering a bit, especially my back that I didn’t expect – I expected to suffer with my leg. But the leg is good and the back is a bit worse.”

Despite a track temperature of 55C in Practice, Bezzecchi said that the riders had to take care to warm the tyres up after leaving the pits.

“It’s difficult to put temperature on the tyres, especially the rear, but also the front – as you go harder on the compound on the front tyre, it gets worse and worse to put temperature in it,” he explained.

“But it’s strange, this, because normally here it’s super-hot and it was today, also super-hot.

“But apart from this, when I was able to put temperature, I felt good on the bike.”

Aprilia “working well”

With Martin’s absence and the withdrawal of Ai Ogura from the Indonesian weekend, Aprilia has only two riders on-track at Mandalika: Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez, the Trackhouse rider finishing fifth-fastest in Practice.

Bezzecchi insisted that this should not come as a shock.

“We are working well and the bike is improving day-by-day, more and more,” he said.

“It has been more than one GP now that we are going fast, so it’s positive. 

“But, as always, tomorrow all the others will improve and they will be closer and closer so we must keep ourselves focused and we must improve more and more for tomorrow and for Sunday.”

On Thursday (2 October) in Indonesia, Bezzecchi noted electronics as a particular area that Aprilia is looking to work on at the moment.

“What I feel on the bike is that, for sure, we are missing in some areas and we are, anyway, working on these areas since the beginning, so we already made many steps forward and we improved a lot,” he said.

“The races are always different from the practices and from everything else, so we have to try to be patient and collect the data and continue working with the engineers, especially regarding the electronics side.”

He added: “Everything is very difficult to put in the right place, but, yes, a little bit the electronics side we are working on many items and the engineers are doing a fantastic job.

“But we want a little bit more.”