APRILIA PINPOINTS SEPANG WEAKNESS AS MARTIN’S COMEBACK BID FALLS SHORT

Aprilia left the Malaysian Grand Prix with a clearer understanding of where its RS-GP was losing time, even as Ducati gained ground in the MotoGP title contests. The team’s strongest evidence came from the lap-by-lap sector figures: Marco Bezzecchi was fastest through Sepang’s winding second and third sectors, but ranked fifth in the opening sector and 12th in the final one, which includes the long back straight and last hairpin.

Ai Ogura also struggled most in that closing section, recording only the eighth-best time there. Yet the Trackhouse rider delivered Aprilia’s best-ever Sepang Grand Prix result, finishing fourth after passing Bezzecchi late in the race. Bezzecchi then lost another position following a major scare on the final lap.

“We knew Sepang would be a difficult track for us,” Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said. “The positive, though, is that the gap was confined to a single sector, which shows us where we need to focus to improve.” He added that Bezzecchi had given everything but had run out of tyre by the end.

Bezzecchi saw both disappointment and progress in the result. “Of course, I wanted more, and after yesterday I expected to go a bit faster,” he said. “But the positive one is that, compared to last year, the step we made was huge.”

Aprilia’s weekend was also shaped by Jorge Martin’s absence from the race. The Spaniard attempted to return only six days after fracturing a bone in his wrist at Phillip Island, but withdrew after final practice. Rivola said Martin “tried to work a miracle”, while acknowledging that racing so soon after breaking his radius had always been a tall order. He insisted the setback would not alter the team’s determination to keep fighting.

The result leaves Bezzecchi 67 points behind championship leader Marc Marquez with three rounds remaining, although he has moved to within 23 points of injured team-mate Martin. Marquez, winner at Sepang, can secure his first title at the next round in Qatar. To do so, he must outscore Martin by 30 points and Bezzecchi by seven if he wins the Grand Prix, or by eight if he does not.

The manufacturers’ contest remains far tighter: Ducati lead Aprilia by just eight points. Aprilia, meanwhile, hold a 115-point advantage in the teams’ standings. The Sepang data gives the team a specific area to target as it pursues Ducati in the constructors’ fight, while the championship battle moves on to Qatar.