Jorge Martin’s transfer to Aprilia from the Pramac Ducati staff presents the Spanish rider with the uncommon alternative to win MotoGP titles on completely different manufacturers.
Nevertheless, for him to take action, Aprilia — which completed third on this 12 months’s constructors’ standings — should make enhancements to its MotoGP bundle.
“It’s a downgrade,” affirmed Crash MotoGP Podcast host Jordan Moreland, “ as a result of Ducati are so dominant. However the first check in Barcelona for [Jorge] Martin — we don’t clearly hear his feedback, nevertheless it appeared like they had been fairly pleased on the floor.
“It’s simply all about making that subsequent step, isn’t it, for Aprilia, as a result of that’s the place they’ve been for the final season-and-a-half, actually. The bounce has been actually noticeable between them and Ducati.”
Crash.internet MotoGP editor Peter McLaren emphasised that an necessary facet of Martin’s 2025 championship will likely be consistency — one thing the Mallorcan aced in 2024, however Aprilia definitely didn’t.
McLaren mentioned: “I believe it was [Massimo] Rivola that mentioned it; they should make their common higher, don’t they?
“This 12 months they had been the one manufacturing facility to beat Ducati, which in itself is an achievement, however on the similar time they dropped behind KTM within the constructors’ standings.
“So, it’s sort of a combination bag for Aprilia, however actually they should make their common days higher in the event that they’re going to struggle for the championship.”
Clinching the title would make Martin solely the third rider in historical past to win the premier class Grand Prix title in back-to-back years on completely different manufacturers, after Valentino Rossi (2003–04) and Eddie Lawson (1988–89).
“It could be huge for Martin if he might do this,” defined McLaren.
“I believe it’s solely Valentino Rossi and Eddie Lawson who’ve gone back-to-back champions on completely different producers, so it’s an opportunity for him to make an enormous little bit of historical past there.
“It’s definitely an enormous job forward of him to do this, however the very first thing is to get that consistency.
“We noticed these spectacular races by Maverick in COTA, profitable there, that excellent double that even he didn’t appear to know why it had gone so nicely for him at that observe, and by no means on the rostrum once more after that. So, it truly is the consistency.
“It’s a boring phrase, it’s a boring factor, nevertheless it actually is what wins championships, particularly once they’re over 40 races — that’s one thing that turned obvious this 12 months from Martin himself beating Bagnaia who received so many extra Grands Prix than him.”
A part of the important thing to attaining higher consistency will likely be exploiting higher the 2024-spec Michelin rear tyre, a variable for the season simply gone that solely Ducati was capable of maximise.
“The largest factor that Aprilia goes to want to get from Martin […] is how the 2024 Ducati made the 2024 Michelin rear tyre work,” defined Crash.internet journalist Lewis Duncan.
“That’s the important thing factor for Aprilia. You communicate to KTM riders, you communicate to Aprilia riders — they’re probably not certain, however they sort of assume that the issues they’d this 12 months aren’t issues they’d the 12 months earlier than. So, you may solely lay the blame at one factor, and that’s the brand new rear tyre.
“That’s not as a result of the rear tyre is unhealthy, it’s that this new rear tyre had a lot extra grip, that solely Ducati was capable of actually maximise it.
“As soon as they […] unlocked the potential of it, no person else was ever capable of.
“We all know KTM had all these vibration issues which had been greater than possible linked to the rear tyre, Honda had them as nicely, Ducati had them to start with — I don’t keep in mind the Aprilia riders complaining an excessive amount of about vibration points, however they’d different issues: grip points, traction, degradation was fairly excessive in Grands Prix.
“That one-lap explosiveness was there, and in Sprints the tempo was alright, however over longer distances they struggled.
“You take heed to Aleix Espargaro in Malaysia, he had no thought. That is what Aprilia will likely be hoping to get from Martin on the very least — if their principle is that it’s the 2024 rear tyre, then right here is somebody who knew how that labored on a motorcycle that made it work.”
Nevertheless, whereas it may be clear what Aprilia must do between now and the 2025 Thai Grand Prix at the start of March, attaining it is going to be difficult by the change of personnel at Noale this winter.
Not solely have Marco Bezzecchi and Martin arrived to the manufacturing facility, however so has Fabiano Sterlacchini, a brand new technical boss to switch the departing Romano Albesiano.
Duncan defined: “Aprilia have gotten to do this with a brand new rider line-up and a brand new technical chief as a result of Fabiano Sterlacchini has are available to switch [Romano] Albesiano.
“Sterlacchini left the KTM challenge in June, however clearly he additionally left a motorcycle [KTM RC16] that he was not capable of perceive the right way to get the utmost out of the rear tyre. There’s a fairly large winter forward of them, and the primary couple of exams are going to be attention-grabbing.”