On the eve of the Assen race, where he was the protagonist in the past season with the victory in the sprint race and the second place in the Sunday GP, Marco Bezzecchi Turn the page: goodbye to Ducati and Valentino Rossi’s team. Next year, the 25-year-old from Rimini will climb theAprilia of the official team, teaming up with the Spaniard Jorge Martin. Bez and Martinator. For the Noale team it is a real revolution: Aleix Espargarò retires at the end of the season to become Honda’s test driver, Maverick Viñaleswill run with one Ktm dividing into boxes with Enea Bastianini. «We are focusing on two drivers who in 2023 finished in 2nd and 3rd place in the MotoGP: I am definitely happy and optimistic for the future”, he comments Massimo Rivola, CEO of Aprilia Racing. Aggressive, effective, spectacular: but will they be able to quickly get used to switching from one motorbike to another?
Bezzecchi paired with Martin: young and talented
Thanks to three successes on Sunday and one on Saturday, 13 podiums in total, last season Bezzecchi deservedly won the title of ‘rookie of the year’ with the Vr46 team: in this first part of 2024 he was less incisive (a 3rd place in Jerez, often far from the top 10 and overtaken by his teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio), but there are good reasons to believe that he will soon take numerous revenge. Rivola had been chasing him for some time: «Four years ago, when things weren’t going very well for us, I offered him a saddle: he had preferred to continue growing in Moto2, aware of an imminent move to Ducati with Vr46. I definitely don’t want it. He has continued to grow, and he impressed me in the wet in Argentina as well as in India on a track that no one knew a year ago. He is a great talent. In the media he reminds us a little of Valentino Rossi and a little of Marco Simoncelli: but above all, he is someone who has a lot of gas in his wrist.”
Rivola: «Bezzecchi is a champion, we will have fun»
The CEO of Aprilia Racing did not hide his disappointment at Vinales’ move to KTM (“Austin’s victory was an enormous satisfaction, I hoped to continue with him”), but at the same time he says that Bez has become forward “and you couldn’t miss an opportunity like that.” «By starting from scratch with the riders of the official team we lose a bit of continuity, but it’s a small risk that I willingly accept». At the moment the satellite team pair is confirmed, Oliveira-Raul Fernandez. «The decision will be up to the Trackhouse team and others Davide Briviobut I won’t deny that I would like everyone to stay with us again.”
