First day of testing for the Aprilia Racing riders, Jorge Martín and Marco Bezzecchi, at the Sepang circuit.

The session got off to a difficult start for Martín, who was forced to end his day of testing early in the morning following a high-side crash in turn 2. Following the crash, he was taken to the circuit medical center for initial checks and later transferred to the Aurelius Hospital in Nilai for further tests. After the checks, Martín has been diagnosed a closed fracture of the 5th metacarpal head of the right hand and a closed fracture of the 3rd, 4th and 5th metatarsals of the left foot. In addition, he has undergone a CT scan and MRI, both of which were negative. He will stay in hospital overnight and on Thursday he will fly back to Europe to undergo surgery on both his right hand and left foot. Lorenzo Savadori will replace Jorge Martín to continue the development work on the RS-GP25.

Marco Bezzecchi finished the first day of testing in 18th position, completing a total of 68 laps and setting his best time at 1:59.207. The Italian rider was positive about the evolution of the 2025 RS-GP.

MARCO BEZZECCHI
“It was a positive day. We tried the first evolution of the RS-GP25, the one from Barcelona, and then we switched to the latest specification, which I liked much more. We still have a lot of items to test, so it’s too early to give detailed feedback. The bike gives me good sensations, especially at the front, which allows me to ride naturally. I have fun riding, and I immediately felt comfortable. Everyone in the box is very enthusiastic and there's a great atmosphere.”

MASSIMO RIVOLA
“During the launch, we said that the first phase would be about learning, but clearly with what has happened today that phase has been significantly delayed. All we can do now is wish Jorge the best of luck and work to the best of our ability, just as we did with Marco, who appreciated the various changes along the way and still leaves us with a positive outlook. I'm sure Jorge will come back stronger than ever and we'll be there with him. A thought also for Raúl, who suffered a serious injury at the start of the test."Welcome back to MotoGP for the start of the 2025 season.

With 22 Grand Prix race weekends ahead, the Trackhouse MotoGP Team is at Sepang International Circuit for testing. Having commenced with a three-day ‘Shakedown’ test for new recruit, reigning Moto2 World Champion – Ai Ogura, the team has a further three days of testing to begin the process of dialing in its pair of brand new Aprilia RS-GP25 prototype bikes.

From today – Day 1 of the three scheduled days at this first test of 2025 both Trackhouse riders, #25 Raul Fernandez and #79 Ai Ogura, commenced running shortly after pit-road opened at 10am, local time, in Malaysia.

Raul completed just 24 laps in the morning before crashing heavily at turn 9, before he had managed to settle in and set any kind of meaningful pace. Unfortunately, he sustained a fractured metacarpal bone in his left hand and a fracture to the little toe on his left foot and departed the track early to return to Barcelona, Spain, for further medical assessment. We hope Raul is fit to return soon and in the meantime, all at Trackhouse wish him a speedy recovery. Further information about Raul’s condition will be shared as soon as available.

For MotoGP rookie, #79 Ai Ogura, day 1 of the test saw him settle in quickly. After an impressive and trouble free three days on the circuit last week, the time on Sepang’s pavement was given to further familiarization with his Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP25 and the tire compound options available from Michelin. Despite a morning crash in the morning, Ai ran a solid program through the day, without going for a quick lap.

#79 Ai Ogura

Completed: 58 Laps – 199.52 miles / 321.32 kilometers

Best lap: 1’58.763 (P 16)

Top speed: 209.71 mph / 337.5 km/h



#25 Raul Fernandez

Completed: 24 Laps – 82.56 miles / 132.96 kilometers

Best lap: 2’01.288 (P 22)

Top speed: 210.33 mph / 338.5 km/h


Day 2 of testing commences tomorrow – Thursday, February 6 – at 10am (GMT+8)

AI OGURA

“Most of the time today we have been working with a medium rear and during the Shakedown I had the soft, so things have been a bit different compared to the first three days of testing here. I think it was a bit cooler today, so this made it easier, but other than that the conditions felt very similar to the Shakedown test. Later in the day I went out again with a soft rear and I just continued my work from the last test from there on. It was the way we worked before and it was good.”


RAUL FERNANDEZ

“First of all, thanks to the team and thanks to all the brands that support me with gear because today I had a big crash during the first day of testing here in Sepang. This is certainly not what we wanted, especially first day back on the bike. What happened was quite strange because we started quite well with our minds focused on work. I had a strange crash, I did more or less the same things like in the laps before so I didn’t expect anything like this to happen. It was very unusual and I was unlucky because I broke a bone in my left hand and one in my left foot. I will fly back to Spain now to undergo further examinations to find out what exactly I have and what will be the best treatment to get back on the bike as quick as possible.”

DAVIDE BRIVIO - TEAM PRINCIPAL

“This has been a difficult day for us due to Raul’s injury. It was very unfortunate after just a few laps he had a crash and this time he suffered a fracture on his left hand, so he’s going back to Barcelona. He will try to get further examinations and the best treatment possible. Then we can evaluate what his recovery time will look like and see when we will have him back with us. For Ai, it was another solid day despite a small crash in the morning. He continued his learning and we worked with used tires, electronics settings and various things that we are trying to help him discover, learn and understand. So far, so good, let’s keep going. We hope we can continue smoothly like this on this side of the garage.”