Fourth place for Aprilia Racing in a chaotic race in Montmeló

May 17, 2026 Michael Le Pard News

Published May 17, 2026 by Michael Le Pard

rivola

MARCO BEZZECCHI FOURTH, JORGE MARTÍN DNF
The weekend on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ended with a particularly tumultuous Sunday, marked by two red flags following several serious incidents. At the restart, over a distance shortened to 12 laps, Marco Bezzecchi rode a solid race, finishing fourth and taking home important championship points.

On the other hand, it was a complicated race for Jorge Martín, involved in a crash on the first lap after the third race start. The Spanish rider managed to get back on the track but, because of damage to the bike, he was forced to return to the garage without finishing the race.

Rounding out the day’s results was Trackhouse MotoGP Team’s Ai Ogura with an eighth-place finish, allowing Aprilia to close out with two RS-GP26 machines in the top ten.

First of all, I hope that Álex Márquez and Johann Zarco are okay. Álex’s crash was pretty scary, with pieces of the bike flying all over the place and even hitting several riders – including me, even though I was farther back. Zarco’s crash was unfortunately also a serious incident. Overall, it was a weekend of struggling for us but, considering everything that took place, we were still able to take home a good result.
Whatever I did today is secondary – the most important thing is that Álex and Johann are okay. It was an extremely dangerous day and having to go through three restarts seems excessive to me. We’re only human and, after seeing that type of accident, it isn’t easy to focus again.
This was a weekend where Aprilia did not shine, especially on Saturday, although I think we had a good pace in the race to make a play for the positions that count. However, I believe that any discussion about results should be back-burnered after seeing Álex’s terrible accident and Johann’s as well, which was just as serious. We wish both of them a speedy recovery and we hope they’ll be able to get back on the track soon. We have an important test tomorrow ahead of our home GP, we’ll do our best to be ready.

2027 Newest Bike Reviews

2027 Motorcycle Model Review Guides