Aprilia Racing celebrated a commanding performance in the Le Mans Sprint, with Jorge Martín storming from eighth on the grid to an unchallenged victory and Marco Bezzecchi securing third place for a double RS-GP podium. Trackhouse MotoGP Team’s Ai Ogura added to Aprilia’s strong Saturday by finishing seventh.
Martín’s lightning start launched him straight into the lead, which he held to the chequered flag, marking his 18th career sprint win—the most in the format’s history. “I made a great start and had a good opening lap, which certainly helped me win the race. I am delighted. I feel increasingly comfortable with the RS-GP26, and that is important. Now we need to keep working so that we are ready for the race,” Martín said.
Bezzecchi, starting from the front row, claimed his first sprint podium of the season and was pleased with the team’s momentum: “I am pleased. I had a good qualifying session, which is very important because it also counts towards tomorrow, and then finally an excellent sprint, which we really needed. Now we need to stay focused ahead of the race: we will look at the data and try to figure out how we can improve further.”
Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura rounded out a positive day for Aprilia with a solid seventh place.
Aprilia Technical Director Fabiano Sterlacchini summed up the day: “It was a positive day, especially considering how it evolved. Jorge started from the back, but he recovered brilliantly with an incredible start. There are still some details we can work on ahead of the race, but overall, we are satisfied.”
With both Martín and Bezzecchi showing strong pace, Aprilia heads into Sunday’s French Grand Prix as the team to beat.
