Jorge Martin “convinced of another step” at Le Mans MotoGP
Jorge Martin growing in confidence, says Aprilia updates brought “another step” as he chases team-mate Marco Bezzecchi's MotoGP title lead at Le Mans.
Jorge Martin heads for this weekend’s Le Mans MotoGP in a “confident” mood, as he seeks to confirm progress made at the Jerez test.
After missing part of winter testing, Martin used the post-race test to catch up on existing Aprilia parts he hadn’t had time to try, as well as new developments.
Despite being ranked tenth and last of the RS-GP riders on the timesheets, the former MotoGP champion was all smiles afterwards.
“Every new thing I was putting on the bike, I was feeling another step forward, another step forward,” Martin explained.
“I cannot say what [the parts are], but they helped me to turn a bit better, have a bit more of rear grip, and everything is becoming more natural for my style.
“Every time I go on the track I feel more on my bike.”
Martin, who lost points to title-leading team-mate Marco Bezzecchi at the Spanish Grand Prix, will be making his Aprilia debut at Le Mans, having missed last year’s race due to injury.
“I’m confident for this weekend. The Jerez tests were positive and now the goal is to confirm the progress made on different tracks as well,” he said.
“This will be highly important in order to validate the new technical solutions.
“I feel rather good physically, even better than in recent races, and I’m convinced that we’ll be able to take another step forward here.”
Martin won at Le Mans during his most recent 2024 appearance, as a Pramac Ducati rider.
Meanwhile, Bezzecchi, winner of the 2023 event on a VR46 Ducati, qualified seventh and finished 14th in last year’s flag-to-flag race.
The Italian, whose run of five grand prix victories ended at the hands of Alex Marquez at Jerez, takes an eleven-point world championship lead over Martin into this weekend.
“I’m extremely happy to be racing in Le Mans. It is a fantastic circuit and there are always a lot of fans.
“I’m quite keen to continue doing well, so we’ll try to put in a good weekend.
“We’ll be working with the team to be competitive throughout the weekend and to leave with a good race result.”
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