Marco Bezzecchi Unconcerned as Fellow Aprilia Riders Struggle in Misano Practice

Marco Bezzecchi stated he was not worried despite seeing his factory Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin and other Aprilia riders struggle during Practice for the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. While Bezzecchi nearly broke the lap record aboard his RS-GP, Martin barely secured the final direct entry into Q2 in 10th place, finishing 0.546 seconds behind. Nevertheless, Bezzecchi emphasized that it was only Friday and expressed confidence that his team-mates would recover for Saturday's qualifying.

Jorge Martin explained that he was completely on the limit but suffered during his time attack due to discomfort with Michelin's soft rear tyre. After showing strong pace on the medium tyre in FP1, the Spanish rider struggled with the soft compound in the afternoon session, clinging to 10th place by just 0.016 seconds over 13th-placed Fermin Aldeguer. Martin noted that he aims to work with his team to resolve these time attack issues, believing his overall race pace remains competitive.

At Aprilia's satellite team Trackhouse, Raul Fernandez finished 12th after making errors on his final push laps and adapting poorly to setup changes made after FP1, where he had ended up third. His team-mate Ai Ogura missed the weekend entirely due to injury. In contrast, Ducati showed strong single-lap pace with four riders inside the top five, while Francesco Bagnaia missed out on Q2 due to a lack of speed and Aldeguer was hindered by a late technical problem.