Ducati on the attack at Motegi, Aprilia ready to hit back: here's what Martin and Bezzecchi are missing

There’s still something to sort out in the Noale team: the two riders aren’t doing badly at Motegi, but they expect to improve quite a bit on Saturday.

Ducati on the attack to try to gain points in the Japanese Grand Prix, knowing that Aprilia should be the favorite in Indonesia. After Friday’s MotoGP practice, up front there are two Desmosedici GP26s split by Pedro Acosta’s KTM; the best RS-GP26 is Marco Bezzecchi’s, fourth and 0.218 behind leader Alex Marquez. Jorge Martin, atop the world championship standings, finished eighth, more than four tenths down.

Interviewed by Sky Sport MotoGP, Bezzecchi said he was quite happy with his Friday at Motegi: "We were fast on the time attack lap and also on race pace both in the morning and afternoon. I expected a more explosive time attack, but here they brought a softer tire that’s harder than usual and there isn’t the grip I imagined and hoped for with the new asphalt. Anyway, the bike rides well, even if we still have to improve a bit. Overall a good start."

The Rimini rider knows what he has to do to put himself in a position to fight for the win: "Martin is very effective in T4, he did better than me, even though I wasn’t bad. He’s very good at the final chicane. We’re struggling a bit under braking, with this asphalt we expected more grip. They brought us very hard tires; to make them work well it takes time and it takes a riding style that isn’t mine yet. Maybe I’m too aggressive on the brakes; you need to be smoother, I have to work on it."

The Aprilia Racing team will have to work to give him a better RS-GP26, but at the same time Bezzecchi knows he has to do his part by adapting his riding style to the conditions at Motegi.

Even though he isn’t high up in Friday’s standings in Japan, Martin is overall satisfied: "I had a few issues in the time attack — he told Sky Sport MotoGP — but in general I feel good with the bike. We had a good Friday; with the medium tire I feel good looking ahead to Sunday’s race. I still need to understand how to be a bit quicker with the soft."

For the Spanish rider, it’s crucial to figure out how to be more competitive with the soft rear tire, since that’s the one to use in Qualifying and probably also in the Sprint: "Even though this year the tire is harder than last year — he explains — when we fit the soft the bike’s balance changes a bit and that affects me more; Marco manages to be more competitive and I have to figure out how to be faster. We have a few ideas, but we need to take a step. In terms of pace I don’t feel far off; I think we’re doing a good job."

Saturday morning’s FP3 will be important for working and producing improvements. The Martinator leads the overall MotoGP standings and wants to stay there before flying to Mandalika, where Aprilia should be stronger than this weekend at Motegi.

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