Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Dutch MotoGP weekend in Assen on Thursday, Jorge Martin stated that despite a series of poor results, this race is not a "must-win" stage for Aprilia. According to the Spanish rider, the main goal is to connect with the bike and restart the improvement process.
Ducati closed the gap, but the crisis at Aprilia worsened.
Aprilia, which had a strong start to the season, has suffered significant losses in recent weeks. Martin was unable to finish the Catalan Grand Prix due to a collision, while in Hungary, his teammate Marco Bezzecchi went off track in a chain reaction crash he himself caused at turn 1. Last week, at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno, championship leader Bezzecchi was disqualified from the sprint race for hitting a marshal after his fall. As a result of these developments, Marc Marquez is now 40 points behind the leader, while Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Ducati remains on 23 points. Bezzecchi is still eight points ahead of his teammate Martin in the championship.
Martin responded to a question about the weekend by saying: “I don’t think there’s a race that absolutely has to be won right now. What’s important for me is finding that feeling. If I can get that feeling, I know I can fight for the podium and wins every weekend.”
Martin likened the situation to the testing process at the start of the season, continuing: “I think we stopped developing when we got to Le Mans. Others are approaching and I already knew that. We need to continue improving our core setup.”
‘'I want to be a driver, not an engineer.'’
Martin stated that he has experienced problems in recent races due to insufficient feedback from the front, and that these problems prevented him from going directly into Q2 on Friday in Brno. He said he hoped his team would have something new to try for Friday's practice sessions in Assen, and emphasized that he wanted to shift his focus from technical discussions to driving.
“"I don't want to be an engineer, to be honest," Martin said, adding, "I want to be a driver; I've shared my thoughts with the team, and I'm sure they have something they want to try tomorrow.".
Martin noted that Le Mans was the only race this season where he truly found his rhythm with the motorcycle: “Perhaps it’s only at Le Mans that I’ve found the perfect feeling. We have to understand where that feeling comes from and rediscover it. Because when I have that feeling and that motorcycle, I know I can fight for wins; but if I don’t, it’s very difficult.” The Dutch Grand Prix weekend in Assen will begin with free practice sessions on Friday.