“It improved quite a lot”: Jorge Martin solves key Aprilia MotoGP issue

Jorge Martin feels he has solved a key issue that has been plaguing his results for several races after making some changes for the Silverstone MotoGP race.

Martin was one of four Aprilias in the top-five after MotoGP Practice, albeit the second-slowest of them. 

The RS-GP won at Silverstone last year, and all four bikes going inside the qualifying record of the 2025 race on Friday afternoon seemed to show that the bike continues to be the reference at the high-speed British track.

“What can I say? The bike is working really good, and the bike is – also in the past – [it] really works here,” Jorge Martin said after Practice.

“We just will try to continue enjoying this feeling and take profit of the weekend.”

While all the Aprilias were competitive, Martin himself had made some changes compared to the last races before the summer break in order to try to recover some front confidence, which went missing after his crash-strewn Barcelona weekend. After Friday, he felt those changes had worked.

“For sure it improved quite a lot,” the Aprilia Racing rider said.

“We were looking a lot into the data of what was working in the first part of the season and we went back to that base, what we thought was the best option also for Silverstone, and it worked really good. 

“So, I felt really good. For sure, not racing here last season, it affected a lot on Fridays because you need to adapt, you need to work a lot on the power, on the electronics, on the engine brake. So we are trying to understand this. 

“Overall today was a great day, a bit like a test day also because we had different parts to try, but I feel really good.”

Martin said that he could tell as soon as he left the pits that the changes he made had helped.

“I think as soon as you exit you can feel it,” he said.

“I’m a really sensitive rider, even sometimes if they change me 1mm of height I feel it straight away out of the box. 

“So, today straight away I felt super-strong, super-good with the front. I think also it was a bit of a mental switch: I said ‘Okay, the bike is good in the front, I can attack’, and I felt like this. 

“I think after Barcelona I’m starting to feel better with the front.”

Martin added that the areas he feels he’s able to make the difference as a rider at Silverstone this weekend are on corner entry, proving the step forward in his front-end confidence.

“I feel I can brake really strong and go really strong into the corners, and the bike still turns,” he explained.

“The problem is if you try this and then you go wide. 

“So, I can stop the bike really good, then I can turn and I can exit fast. Overall, the balance of the bike here is really good.”

Fernandez incident: “I was really close”

The only tricky moment for Martin on Friday at Silverstone came in FP1 when he nearly ran into the back of Augusto Fernandez heading onto the Hangar Straight.

Martin avoided the Yamaha wildcard by running slightly wider and touching the grass, but they both got away with it.

“I was just behind,” he said.

“I think he [Fernandez] was on another line, but he stayed on the outside and I was really close, so I just went on the grass, touched some grass. 

“But here we have this problem, but it’s part of the track.”

Fernandez was asked about the incident, which he offered an apology for.

“I was on my out-lap, I didn’t see him coming that fast, and I apologise to him if I disturbed him,” Fernandez, who finished the day slowest in Practice, said.