Sylvain Guintoli has commended Marco Bezzecchi for his outstanding performance throughout the 2025 MotoGP season, while also applauding Aprilia for fundamentally transforming the RS-GP\u2019s performance characteristics. Aprilia entered the previous season with a fresh lineup, featuring Marco Bezzecchi alongside reigning world champion Jorge Martin, as well as a new technical director, Fabiano Sterracchini.<\/p>\n
When Martin suffered an injury and missed the first day of pre-season testing, the responsibility for bike development immediately shifted to Bezzecchi, who had never before ridden a factory-spec machine or led the progression of a MotoGP project. Initially, both rider and manufacturer faced significant challenges. However, consistent efforts early on laid the groundwork for a breakthrough during the post-race test at Jerez.<\/p>\n
“I picked up some key insights from the Jerez test that were really valuable,” Bezzecchi shared with Crash.net<\/em>. “After returning home, I realized, \u2018Yes, this is definitely doable.\u2019”<\/p>\n Though specific details remain private, Guintoli\u2014former Grand Prix rider, 2014 World SBK Champion, and current MotoGP commentator for TNT Sports\u2014observed a noticeable evolution in the RS-GP\u2019s character. He praised Bezzecchi and the entire Aprilia team for their impressive work.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat stood out most was Aprilia\u2019s historical strength on flowing circuits like Silverstone, Assen, and Barcelona,\u201d Guintoli explained. \u201cWe expected them to struggle on tight, hard-braking tracks or when Michelin introduced a harder tire carcass. That had long been embedded in their bike\u2019s DNA and packaging. But this year, the RS-GP changed, and Bezzecchi truly excelled.\u201d<\/p>\n Bezzecchi ended the season with Aprilia\u2019s best-ever MotoGP results: six victories (three Grands Prix and three Sprint races) and a third-place finish in the World Championship. Aprilia secured second place behind Ducati in the constructors\u2019 standings. Guintoli, recalling his time winning the 2014 World SBK title with Aprilia, noted the continuity within the team and expressed satisfaction at their current success.<\/p>\n The season\u2019s only setback for Bezzecchi was at Mandalika, where a collision with Marc Marquez caused the champion to miss the rest of the round due to a shoulder injury. Guintoli described the crash as unfortunate but a byproduct of close racing, emphasizing that it did not overshadow Aprilia\u2019s impressive progress and emergence as serious title contenders.<\/p>\n When asked if Marquez might have taken the championship riding Aprilia\u2019s 2024 RS-GP, Guintoli was quick to highlight Bezzecchi\u2019s accomplishments. He pointed out that, despite being teammate to the reigning world champion Martin\u2014who holds higher status\u2014Bezzecchi delivered remarkable results in his first season with a factory team. Guintoli added that while Martin struggled with the Ducati GP23, Bezzecchi worked patiently to develop a machine that suits his style perfectly.<\/p>\n In a personal note, Guintoli announced he will participate in the 2026 London Marathon wearing racing leathers to honor his late son Luca and is raising funds for the pediatric cancer charity PASIC.<\/p>\n Fan Take:<\/strong> Bezzecchi\u2019s breakthrough season with Aprilia signals a seismic shift in MotoGP\u2019s competitive landscape, introducing a new powerhouse team capable of challenging perennial giants like Ducati. This evolution not only heightens the sport\u2019s unpredictability but also promises thrilling battles for fans eager to witness the rise of fresh talent and innovative engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sylvain Guintoli has commended Marco Bezzecchi for his outstanding performance throughout the 2025 MotoGP season, while also applauding Aprilia for fundamentally transforming the RS-GP\u2019s performance characteristics. Aprilia entered the previous season with a fresh lineup, featuring Marco Bezzecchi alongside reigning world champion Jorge Martin, as well as a new technical director, Fabiano Sterracchini. When Martin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[146,4718,7747,527,4267,969,19,18,8213,1708,526,2840,8212,4647],"class_list":{"0":"post-39297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-amazing","9":"tag-applauding","10":"tag-aprilias","11":"tag-bezzecchi","12":"tag-dna","13":"tag-exclusive","14":"tag-formula","15":"tag-formula-racing","16":"tag-guintoli","17":"tag-insight","18":"tag-marco","19":"tag-praises","20":"tag-sylvain","21":"tag-transformation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}