Why Aprilia will be a stronger threat in the second half of MotoGP 2025

It was nothing short of fascinating. After all the fighting, bickering and fuss kicked up in the preceding weeks, everything seemed like sunshine and roses in Aprilia's garage at Brno for the Czech Grand Prix.

Let's rewind a bit. In the wake of Jorge Martin's crash in Qatar, Aprilia's new recruit attempted to get out of his two-year deal using a specific clause written into his contract. The clause in question allowed him to cut his contract short if he wasn't in contention for the 2025 MotoGP title after Le Mans in May.

In response, Aprilia argued, quite fairly one must say, that the clause wasn't really applicable. The team pointed out that Martin had only contested the Qatar GP after his pre-season testing accident ruled him out of the opening rounds of the season, so of course he wasn't going to be fighting for the championship.

The dispute went back and forth for weeks, with rumours of legal action by Aprilia surfacing while Martin was being connected to an alleged Honda deal. Marco Bezzecchi, meanwhile, seemed to break through a barrier following his British GP triumph two weeks after news of Martin's campaign broke. The Italian took a further podium at Assen, while the contractual theatrics continued in the background.

The reason all of this is relevant is because of the performance delivered by Aprilia on Sunday. The Italian factory team gave the impression that there hadn't been any trouble whatsoever and everyone was working in wonderful harmony after patching up the relationship. If this is true, the team – now fully staffed with race riders – might make a consistent challenge at the front of the pack.

Friday really could have gone better. In the tricky wet conditions, Bezzecchi threw his bike off the road twice while Martin was slowly building up his confidence upon his return to action. Both got straight into Q2, surprisingly, and seemed to be setting up their weekends nicely.

Instead, Saturday was a mixed bag. Bezzecchi crashed again in qualifying but had luckily put in a lap that was good enough for fourth on the grid. In fairness, he would have probably been pushed down had it not been for Johann Zarco's and Marc Marquez's crashes on their last laps but that's just speculation. Martin, on the other hand, was still gradually building up his speed as he and the team had planned, so he was only 12th.

Martin had a reasonable race on his MotoGP comeback in the Saturday sprint

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

The sprint was average for both riders. Bezzecchi ran into Fabio Quartararo, which wrecked the aero on the front of his bike for the rest of the race. While the in-form Italian finished fourth with his ill-handling bike, reigning champion Martin took 11th.

Sunday was when the factory squad put in a really impressive performance, with Bezzecchi very opportunistic on the opening lap. First, the Italian picked off Quartararo and then managed to get the better of Marc at Turn 5 after the latter lost momentum following a failed move on Bagnaia. Then the double world champion ran wide coming into Turn 13 which allowed Bezzecchi to pounce. Picking up the slipstream down the start-finish straight, the Italian delivered a textbook pass to lead the race.

Rather predictably, it didn't last. Marc reclaimed the lead on lap seven before taking victory. Bezzecchi, meanwhile, managed to pull away from Pedro Acosta's KTM in the second half of the race to secure second. He later explained to the media how he just tried to keep cool after Marc's pass.

“I'm happy for Aprilia. I think it’s difficult to believe, but now it's starting to feel like home. I think maybe Friday was a bit more tense, then Saturday better, today a bit better. For sure, now we need to build confidence together. I know they believe in me a lot, and I believe in them, in the project, now" Jorge Martin

"I knew Marc was really strong," explained Bezzecchi. "We saw his pace during the whole weekend and, honestly, with the medium [compound] rear tyre I never worked a lot – I tried the tyre only this morning,” he said.

“I knew for sure that he would be very strong. So, when he passed me I didn’t panic too much. I tried to follow, but I saw that he was slightly faster lap-by-lap; he was making a bigger gap.

“So I kept calm, I kept the concentration. I tried to make my rhythm without stressing anything too much. In the end, that was the key because in the last three or four laps I had the speed and the tyre [performance] left to escape from Pedro and finish in second place.”

Marco Bezzecchi celebrated another podium on Sunday

Photo by: Aprilia Racing

Slightly further back, Martin was slowly but surely picking his way through the pack. There were no heroics to speak of, just a calm and measured ride to build up his confidence. At the chequered flag, Martin was classified an impressive seventh and pleased with how he was fitting into the Aprilia team after all the tension.

“I'm happy for Aprilia,” said the reigning world champion after the race. “I think it’s difficult to believe, but now it's starting to feel like home.

“I think maybe Friday was a bit more tense, then Saturday better, today a bit better. For sure, now we need to build confidence together. I know they believe in me a lot, and I believe in them, in the project, now.

“It was a really tense weekend, because it was unpredictable, all the feelings. Before the race I was crying a lot with my family in the motorhome, when I put on my leathers, because what I’d been through was tough. But I think it was good to relieve those emotions and then get focused on the race.”

It's worth bearing in mind that before Martin returned, the team was very one-sided. Lorenzo Savadori was treating the race weekends as test sessions for Aprilia, with the team focusing on Bezzecchi's performance. However, now that Martin is on the other side of the garage, the squad has the chance to work as a more cohesive unit.

Of course, it's not just the riders who are responsible for dragging Aprilia up the grid. The Italian team has been hard at work trying to improve its bike. The RS-GP25 received revised electronics during the Aragon test, with further work on the aerodynamics and swing arm being carried out too. Even though the team is getting closer and closer to the front of the field, the changes that it made at the start of this year are not performing in the way Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola envisaged.

Rivola's team is currently second in the manufacturers' standings, despite a tough start to the year

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

"The changes were made to fight for the title," said Rivola. "So clearly we’re not where we wanted to be, even though I can say we have some mitigating factors. The true value of Aprilia Racing will be seen from September onwards. I don’t think Martin will take many races to get back to fighting for the podium. That’s not to take anything away from Bezzecchi, who has done an exceptional job. If we’re in this position, it’s thanks to him. 

"But if we’re fighting with Marquez – and we’re talking about Marquez on a Ducati, a pairing that seems unbeatable – I’m convinced we can beat them. Because it doesn’t seem like we’re too far off, especially on certain tracks. A key track could be Austria, which isn’t one of our favourites. But seeing the way Marco is riding and adapting to different circuits makes me optimistic."

Aprilia is the team on the march going into the summer break, and if it can put the contract debacle to bed, it has a chance to make further inroads on Ducati. The problem is that it's not a case of defeating Ducati. It's a case of defeating Marc Marquez

It's worth pointing out that the remaining manufacturers simply aren't in the mix yet. The KTMs are growing stronger race by race, as evidenced by Acosta's top-threes at Brno, but the manufacturer's poor qualifying performance will continue to hold it back. The Yamaha bikes, Quartararo's in particular, can be competitive but only when the conditions are absolutely perfect. And Honda? Well, the less said about its chances, the better.

Aprilia is the team on the march going into the summer break, and if it can put the contract debacle to bed, it has a chance to make further inroads on Ducati. The problem is that it's not a case of defeating Ducati. It's a case of defeating Marc Marquez.

On the surface at least, Jorge Martin and Aprilia appear to be chums again

Photo by: Aprilia Racing