Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola says Jorge Martin’s 2025 MotoGP season was “a nightmare”, but that this was true also for Aprilia itself on the #89’s side.

It was a season of contrast for Aprilia, with Martin’s season-long injury woes countered by three wins for Marco Bezzecchi – who became the first Aprilia MotoGP rider to finish in the top-three in the riders’ standings – and victory in Australia for Raul Fernandez, who also finished second to Bezzecchi at the season finale in Valencia.

It’s a lot to balance for Rivola, who described the season as “emotional” when speaking to MotoGP.com. 

“It was quite emotional, in a word,” he said, reflecting on 2025.

“It started very badly with the injury of Jorge [Martin]. 

“For Jorge, it was a nightmare of a season, also for us, because, missing the World Champion, clearly we missed a big part of that. 

“Luckily, with Marco [Bezzecchi], the job was done in a very successful way. 

“We saw the performance of Marco straight away, it was just a matter of putting everything together, understanding what he was looking for in a bike. 

“But when we found a solution and he got the confidence, I think he proved that he can fight for the title and that, I think, will be a big motivation, also for Jorge, for next year.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Rivola is confident of a season that will build on the potential Aprilia showed in 2025, not just in the factory team but in the Trackhouse squad as well.

“2026 is going to be quite a good year for Aprilia,” Rivola said.

“I’m sure that Marco will be straight away attacking; I’m sure also that, on the Trackhouse side, both Raul [Fernandez] – that I’m very glad that he finally got his victory – but also I have good expectations for Ai [Ogura] and for Jorge in particular. 

“We need to give him time and mileage and confidence. 

“Obviously, we don’t know what the others will do to develop and improve the bike. 

“We know that the RS-GP26 will be a bit better than this one, so obviously we are a bit optimistic.”