MOTEGI PACE PUTS APRILIA TEAM ORDERS BACK IN FOCUS

Aprilia’s title campaign has sharpened the debate over team orders after the Japanese Grand Prix, where Jorge Martin appeared to be the team’s strongest challenger to Marc Marquez.

Marco Bezzecchi began the season as a leading candidate for Aprilia, having ended 2025 strongly and contributed to developing the RS-GP. He won the first three races, leading every lap, while Martin was recovering from injuries that had kept him out of pre-season testing. But crashes, further injuries and a suspension from the Czech Grand Prix have disrupted Bezzecchi’s campaign. He has not won since Mugello, and his crash at Misano further weakened his title bid.

Bezzecchi has still taken third place in three of the past four races, including at Motegi. Yet the Japanese round highlighted the gap between the teammates: Martin claimed pole and battled Marquez for the win, finishing just 1.3 seconds behind the eventual victor. Bezzecchi could not match their pace and nearly lost third to KTM’s Enea Bastianini, who was the fastest rider late in the race and narrowly missed the podium at the finish.

The result has renewed calls for Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola to direct Bezzecchi to support Martin. Bezzecchi is now 49 points behind his teammate, while Marquez’s 37-point haul in Japan underlined the threat facing Aprilia. Rivola has said the team will not impose orders while Bezzecchi remains mathematically capable of winning the title. That remains true, but the source argues his current pace makes Martin the more realistic championship hope.

Uccio Salucci has said Bezzecchi is not sufficiently “immersed” in the title fight, a concern the Motegi performance appeared to reinforce. The argument for team orders is that Aprilia should maximise Martin’s chance of taking the championship rather than risk losing ground to Marquez in the name of fairness. Bezzecchi’s podium shows he remains competitive, but unless he can close the pace gap, the pressure on Rivola to prioritise Martin is likely to grow.