“Not enough time” for Aprilia to “understand” significant MotoGP aero changes
Marco Bezzecchi suggests Aprilia is yet to make a decision on whether its new MotoGP fairing was an improvement.
Aprilia had “not enough time” to make a proper evaluation of its new MotoGP aerodynamics package during the post-race test in Valencia on Tuesday (18 November).
The one-day MotoGP test was heavily affected by overnight rain which saw the test extended by half-an-hour at the end of the day, but which also cost over two hours of running in the morning.
This contributed to Aprilia’s lack of time to evaluate its new aerodynamics package, but it was also something normal for a test, explained Marco Bezzecchi.
“It’s different, of course, but as always not enough time to really understand,” Bezzecchi said after the Valencia test.
“Of course, we tested many things, but the day was a bit particular because of the weather conditions: we lost a lot of track time.
“So, of course, mixed feeling, as always in testing. Some positives, for sure, but also many doubts, many negatives – like every time in testing.
“So, we will have to really analyse well everything before taking a decision. It was just an appetiser.”
The Italian’s comments echoed to some extent the indecision projected by Jorge Martin when he spoke after the test. Martin was more explicitly positive about a new chassis he tried.
Bezzecchi also added that the lack of morning running meant that there was not enough time to complete as much back-to-back testing between the updated bike and the final 2025-specification RS-GP as he and Aprilia would’ve liked.
“It’s normal in testing to do some back-checks, it’s like this always,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with not so much time, if you want to try more things you have to concentrate on what you’re trying, so no chance for the back-check, but the back-check is super-important to understand.
“So, it was a positive test, but not enough information because of this kind of problems.”
The Aprilia Racing rider also said that it was hard to make definitive decisions on what was tested in a one-day post season test having ridden the bike of 2025 so much.
“Maybe with the new [bike] was the best lap time, but anyway it was like half-a-tenth slower with the [2025] one,” Bezzecchi said.
“It’s normal, at the beginning, it’s like this. When you know very well the bike from the season – I think I made 10,000km on the [2025] bike, so in just 50 or 40 laps with something new on the bike it’s impossible really to understand.
“We will see in Sepang.”
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
