Why factory Aprilia couldn't match Trackhouse at Assen

Aprilia had a mixed result in the MotoGP sprint race at Assen. Although the factory team showed better speed than in the previous two race weekends, it was beaten by its own satellite team, Trackhouse Racing.

Trackhouse riders Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura finished first and second in the sprint race. This was a great result for the satellite team and showed how competitive the Aprilia RS-GP bike can be. However, it was a disappointing outcome for the factory squad, which expected to fight at the front.

Marco Bezzecchi was the best factory Aprilia rider in fourth place. He finished around two seconds behind race winner Fernandez. Jorge Martin came home fifth after a difficult race and crossed the line just ahead of Francesco Bagnaia on the Ducati.

Bezzecchi started from the outside of the front row after showing excellent pace throughout practice. In fact, he had been the fastest rider in all three practice sessions before qualifying. However, his sprint race did not go as planned.

On the opening lap, he ran slightly wide at Turn 9 and lost positions. Both Raul Fernandez and Fabio Di Giannantonio managed to get ahead of him. Although Bezzecchi later passed his team-mate Martin to move back into fourth place, he could not catch the riders fighting for the podium.

After the race, Bezzecchi admitted that he struggled in the opening laps. He said the first few laps are extremely important in a sprint race because there is little time to recover lost ground. According to him, the bike did not feel as good as it had during practice.

He explained that he was missing some confidence and that the bike was moving around more than usual. These problems made it difficult for him to push hard at the start. His pace improved later in the race, but by then it was too late to challenge the leaders.

Martin's race followed a different pattern. The Spaniard started from pole position, his first pole for almost two years, and was delighted with his qualifying performance.

At the start, Martin looked strong. Although he briefly lost the lead to Ai Ogura, he quickly fought back and returned to the front. However, his race began to unravel after Raul Fernandez overtook him on lap three.

From that moment, Martin started losing ground. He was unable to maintain his earlier pace and dropped down the order. In the closing stages, he had to defend hard against Bagnaia and Marc Marquez on their factory Ducatis.

Martin eventually finished fifth, but he was 4.5 seconds behind Fernandez at the chequered flag. He believes changes made to the bike setup before the race may have caused the problem.

The reigning world champion said he suffered from a lack of rear grip throughout the race. He explained that the rear tyre did not give him enough feeling or traction, making it difficult to control the bike. As the race continued, the problem became worse and worse.

Martin said the team is still learning how to get the best performance from him on the Aprilia. He explained that setup changes sometimes bring improvements and sometimes create new problems. In his view, the team simply chose the wrong direction for the sprint race.

Despite the disappointment, both Aprilia riders remained positive. The factory team showed much better pace than it had in the previous rounds, and the victory for Fernandez proved that the Aprilia package is capable of winning races. The focus now is on understanding the problems from the sprint and making the right adjustments for the main Grand Prix race.