Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia “discovered many things to work on”
Aprilia went from the highest to the lowest-scoring MotoGP constructor in Malaysia, but Marco Bezzecchi says Sepang was still “super good” for future development.
Aprilia arrived at Sepang hoping the RS-GP would be competitive at a third event in a row, solidifying hopes of a 2026 MotoGP title challenge.
But after winning three of the previous four races, at Mandalika and Phillip Island, Aprilia left Sepang having scored just ten constructors’ points - versus a perfect 37 in Australia - the fewest points of any manufacturer.
“We knew that coming here was going to be a bit more a bit more difficult compared to Phillip Island,” said factory star Marco Bezzecchi, who finished sixth (Sprint) and eleventh (GP).
“I felt much, much better than in the test [ninth], and because of this I'm quite satisfied.
"But of course we still have some work to do, and I think the behaviour of the bike and in general of the weekend is super good for us, because we discovered many things to work on.
“We already have many ideas. So at the end, of course, the result is not the best, but it's part of the process and we will keep working, as always, to improve.”
Bezzecchi said he had "struggled to find the best way to put all the power on the ground" early in the weekend, contributing to him missing direct Qualifying 2 access and starting just 14th on the grid.
The Italian added that a wrong front tyre choice, medium rather than soft, for the Grand Prix had also masked his full potential.
“We didn't take the correct choice with the front, but apart from this, I think that I could maybe do a similar performance to yesterday and stay with Bastianini [7th] or di Giannantonio [6th].
“I didn't aim to get the victory, it was unrealistic today, but maybe doing that was the best that I could do.”
While Bezzecchi struggled with the medium front, Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura chose the soft and finished one place ahead as the top RS-GP rider in tenth.
Despite his lowest scoring weekend since Catalunya, Bezzecchi still holds third in the world championship after Sprint winner Francesco Bagnaia retired with a puncture in the grand prix.
Aprilia meanwhile, takes a reduced 30-point advantage over KTM in the fight to be the runner-up constructor behind Ducati, with only the Portimao and Valencia rounds remaining.
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