{"id":757494,"date":"2026-06-24T16:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/757494\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T16:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:21:15","slug":"aprilia-on-marc-marquezs-winning-form-first-we-need-to-watch-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/757494\/","title":{"rendered":"Aprilia on Marc Marquez\u2019s winning form: \u201cFirst, we need to watch ourselves\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola says the Italian marque first needs to get its own house in order before worrying about Marc Marquez<\/a>\u2019s renewed form on the Ducati.<\/p>\n

Reigning MotoGP champion Marquez has reignited his title challenge by winning back-to-back grands prix in Hungary and the Czech Republic, having shown a marked improvement in pace after undergoing additional surgery on his right shoulder last month.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard\u2019s resurgence has coincided with a difficult spell for Aprilia, particularly its factory team, with Jorge Martin<\/a> triggering a major pile-up at Balaton Park and Marco Bezzecchi<\/a> receiving a one-race ban at Brno for slapping a marshal.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was more concerned about Aprilia riders making frequent mistakes or Marquez\u2019s return to form, Rivola said: \u201cFirst of all, I think we need to watch ourselves. I think we are worried, if I may say, about Marc Marquez since race one. I think Marc is a threat and Ducati is doing a great job, so compliments to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to fix our last few weekends. Then we can be competitive again, as Ai Ogura<\/a> showed this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ai <\/p>\n

Ai Ogura, Trackhouse Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Lukas Kabon \/ Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Aprilia emerged as MotoGP\u2019s new benchmark at the beginning of 2026, winning four of the first five grands prix in commanding fashion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Ducati has closed the gap considerably since the championship moved to Europe at the end of April, with Alex Marquez<\/a>, Fabio di Giannantonio<\/a> and Marc Marquez all scoring victories aboard the GP26.<\/p>\n

Heading into this weekend\u2019s Dutch GP at Assen, Aprilia holds only a narrow five-point lead over Ducati in the manufacturers\u2019 standings, while its grip over both the riders\u2019 and the teams\u2019 standings has also been considerably weakened.<\/p>\n

Despite two tough weekends at Balaton and Brno, Rivola insists the team must remain focused, citing Ai Ogura\u2019s second-place finish on the Trackhouse as reason for optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I always say, when things go well, we\u2019re not superstars, and when they go badly, we\u2019re not idiots,\u201d Rivola quipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe simply have to keep working without paying too much attention to the standings. I believe we have a competitive bike and a very strong group of riders. Ai Ogura proved that again on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, we have to give credit to our rivals: Ducati has made a significant leap forward, regardless of our misfortunes. Marquez was a threat even when he wasn\u2019t in top form; now that he\u2019s back in shape, he\u2019s even more intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jorge <\/p>\n

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team<\/p>\n

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rivola admitted that being a title contender creates additional problems both on and off the track, but he insists he wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n

Asked how he would handle the internal situation at Aprilia, he added: \u201cWhen you\u2019re fighting for something important, it\u2019s inevitable that the tension will rise. In a way, I\u2019m glad that\u2019s the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that even I, in my role, have room for improvement when it comes to managing the riders. But I prefer to have real riders, real people, who react emotionally. Obviously, I condemn what happened [with Bezzecchi], and I want my words to be interpreted correctly. That reaction was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, these are the riders who give that extra something. They put their hearts into it, not just their heads. And I love this kind of rider, even if in this case the behaviour is absolutely reprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola says the Italian marque first needs to get its own house in order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[362310,5743,64,63,5747,5746,817,813,816,5744,10732,5745,85,362311],"class_list":["post-757494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-aprilia-on-marc-marquezu2019s-winning-form-u201cfirst","tag-aprilia-racing-team","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brno-circuit","tag-czech-gp","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-jorge-martin","tag-marco-bezzecchi","tag-motogp","tag-sports","tag-we-need-to-watch-ourselvesu201d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}