Aprilia Racing’s weekend on the Assen TT Circuit ended with their second consecutive podium finish after yesterday’s sprint race. Marco Bezzecchi rode a solid race, confirming his growing feeling with the RS-GP25. After starting from the fifth spot on the grid, he moved quickly into second place on the eighth lap, maintaining it all the way to the chequered flag. With a competitive race pace, the Italian rider stayed glued to the leader for the entire distance, finishing at a distance of just six tenths of a second.
It was an unlucky race for Lorenzo Savadori, who has been working hard developing the RS-GP25. The Italian rider was forced to retire due to a crash on turn 3 during the fourth lap. Fortunately, the accident had no physical consequences.
MARCO BEZZECCHI
“It was a fantastic race. In spite of a less than perfect start, I managed to stay in the group of fastest riders straight away and make up a few positions rapidly, moving into second place. At the beginning of the race, I was trying to manage the situation and stay behind the leader because I wanted to be sure that the tyre pressure was good, since I had never tried the hard tyre throughout the weekend, making it a complete unknown. From the midrace point, however, the leader changed the pace and I tried to stay as close as possible to keep the pressure on, but I never made a mistake. In the final laps I started to drop off a bit as I had truly arrived at the limit with the rear tyre. It was a brilliant weekend. I hadn’t been on the podium on both Saturday and Sunday for a long time, so I’m rather happy.”
LORENZO SAVADORI
“I’m disappointed about how my race went but extremely happy for Aprilia because we still had a great weekend and we brought some upgrades that worked well straight away. Marco managed to take a great podium finish in the sprint race and a fantastic podium in the long race as well. I started well and was in the top-ten group but unfortunately I crashed out. Understanding and analysing all of that will be important.”
MASSIMO RIVOLA
“Finally good qualifiers and, consequently, two races on the podium. However, these two races were not a given, especially today’s race, with Marco battling hard from start to finish with his sights set on the win. The fact that he stayed right on Márquez, who we know is dominating this year, and that he still had a go all the way to the end, is significant. This is a great sign of all the work that is being done in Noale. I continue to emphasise this because continuing to believe is no small feat for a manufacturer who had such a troubled season start. All of this hard work and Marco’s determination remind us of how much we truly appreciate everyone’s efforts.”
