Massimo Rivola: Aprilia "is ready to win” with Jorge Martin

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola used Marco Bezzecchi’s British Grand Prix victory to send a strong public message to the team’s injured rider Jorge Martin, amidst a contractual dispute with the Spanish racer.

As exclusively revealed by Motorsport.com following the French Grand Prix two weeks ago, Martin is looking for a way out of his Aprilia contract by invoking a performance clause.

This is despite the world champion barely having ridden the RS-GP due to a string of injuries so far this season. For its part, Aprilia issued an uncompromising statement on the matter ahead of the Silverstone weekend.

Now, with Bezzecchi having produced an outstanding win at Silverstone, Rivola wasted no time in reminding Martin that he has no reason to try to leave Aprilia before his contract runs out at the end of 2027.

“I would like to send Jorge the message that we have a bike with which he too can win,” said Rivola. “The factory is working hard. Our message is that the bike is ready to win. We want to win with Jorge and we are waiting for him with open arms.

“When a rider has so much bad luck… for so long… he’s in a condition that none of us are in a position to understand well. We have to have the utmost respect for his situation; we will do everything we can to make him see that this is the place he has to be.

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

“It’s been quite a difficult period. [We have not been] too fortunate since the beginning of the season, because of what happened to Jorge.

“We thought we had done a good job at [the factory in] Noale, we just couldn’t show it. We needed this victory.”

Martin has not spoken seriously on the matter since the story of his contract quest surfaced, but broke his silence to some degree by posting a photo of himself cycling on social media earlier this week. The caption read: “Happy and grateful to be back to training! I’ll give you my side of the story soon.

“It’s been a few very tough weeks on the personal side. Thank you to everyone who supports me and enjoy the British GP!”

There was some irony in the fact that the man who enjoyed the British GP most turned out to be his team-mate Bezzecchi. The Italian rider’s form had been middling so far this year as he tried to develop the bike alone amid the drama around Martin.

“We have had some sad days but this is the result of our work,” said Bezzecchi after the race.