EXCLUSIVE - Carchedi: Aldeguer’s “scary” progress, smashed windscreen, 2025 goals

After helping eight-time world champion Marc Marquez revive his MotoGP career with 20 podiums, including three victories, at Gresini, crew chief Frankie Carchedi joins forces with rookie Fermin Aldeguer for 2025.

Aldeguer, who sealed the Ducati seat after dominating the tail end of the 2023 Moto2 campaign but could only manage fifth in last year’s title chase, made his premier-class debut during November’s Barcelona test.

The Spanish teenager edged out reigning Moto2 champion Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) to be the fastest rookie in 20th place, lapping 1.761s from team-mate and test leader Alex Marquez.

Speaking on the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, Carchedi explained that the test was far from easy for the newcomers due to the chilly conditions and lack of soft front tyres following the last-minute change of season finale from Valencia to Barcelona.

“We had one little slip-off, but it could have been a lot more with the difficult conditions,” Carchedi said. “All the rookies touched the gravel at some point and I’m not surprised really. But it was still a really positive test.

“After the second or third lap, he said you sort of acquaint yourself to the speed, but for sure when we looked at the data, braking was the area that there was a lot more margin [to improve].”

“Maybe we pushed him a little bit too much!”

But once told where the needed to improve, Carchedi revealed that Aldeguer made a ‘scary’ step in performance.

“One thing that really impressed me was that we sat down once to look at [the braking] the next exit he was already much closer to the top riders. In fact, it was quite scary because we thought ‘maybe we pushed him a little bit too much!’

“Because you have to remember that rider position on the bike, the ergonomics, is a massive thing in MotoGP. And with a rookie it’s almost a guess for [the first test].

“You take into consideration where all the other riders are positioned and we sort of put him in the middle, but there's more work to do on that this winter.”

“We did have a smashed windscreen…”

At 1.81m, Aldeguer is one of the taller riders. The need to shift his body position further backwards was graphically illustrated when the Spaniard smashed the windscreen with his helmet during a practice start!

“We just concentrated on learning the ride-height device for almost the whole morning and he got up to speed really quickly with that,” Carchedi revealed. “We didn't even talk about the starts, and the buttons you use for that.

“We took it step by step and then towards the end of the day, due to the colder temperatures, we did some practice starts at the end of pit lane [before the official practice start period at the end of the test].

“It would have been a bit unfair to go straight to the grid and do his first practice start in front of everybody – although as you saw we did still have a smashed windscreen!”

“The surprise comes in the second race weekend”

Marquez and Aldeguer may be at opposite ends of their MotoGP careers but Carchedi highlighted similarities in adapting to a new machine.

“There are similarities actually with [2024]," he said. "The tests are not too bad because you’ve got a whole day on track. You can plan it. You've got two bikes, everything is quite straightforward. You take your time and can get to a good level. So you'll often see a lot of rookies in the first race, go really well.

“The surprise comes in the second race weekend, at a track where you haven't tested. You have about 20 laps in FP1 and then you've got to go into qualifying mode [for direct Q2 access].

“That's when you get a bit of a shock to the system.

“We've got 5-6 days of testing in Sepang, so I expect even a rookie can be competitive, and the same at the first race weekend in Thailand with the Buriram test beforehand.

“But it's when you then go to the first new track, which will be Argentina.

“With Joan [Mir, as a rookie at Suzuki in 2019], we were not far from the podium until the last couple of laps in his first race in Qatar. He did amazingly. But then the next track was Argentina and it's a completely different kettle of fish.

“Like I said, you've got 20 laps and then you're going into a qualifying situation. And in MotoGP now your starting position dictates quite a lot of what you can do in the races. So it'll take time.”

“It's always about an upward progression”

Pressed on his goals for Aldeguer in 2025, when he will battle Ogura and Somkiat Chantra for the top rookie title, Carchedi replied:

“I've always said with previous riders - and it’ll be the same with Fermin – that for me it's about always having an upward progression. So even if you finish 20th in the first race, if every race after that is better then you've achieved your goal. And the following year you're ready.

“If you do a sort of an up and a down year… It's great to maybe get a podium in the fifth or sixth race but if the race after that you finish 20th then it doesn't really work.

“So it goes back a little bit to Diggia [2023] and how we started with him. It was all about trying to have an upward trend and it'll be exactly the same with Fermin.

“The only pressure comes if you finish the first race on the podium because to improve all year after that is going to be difficult!

“I expect throughout the year we’ll be more competitive, not ‘this is a good track, this is a bad track’. It'll be more of an upward trend.”

“He did his fastest lap and used the least amount of tyre”

With that in mind, Carchedi explained that initially, it’d be more beneficial for Aldeguer to keep working on set-up rather than put everything on the line to try and qualify directly into Q2 on Friday afternoon.

“Especially in the early races, to go to a new track, do 20 laps and then say, ‘right, you need to pull the pin, close your eyes to try and make Q2’ I think would be the wrong move,” Carchedi said.

“You're better off working on your bike, and when you're ready to really push the boundaries to get into Q2, you do it. So we’ll work a little bit like we did in the [Barcelona] test.

“One of the most positive things at the test was his tyre usage. Because it's not just about riding a bike fast, it's riding it fast but not consuming the tyres so much that you need to do a pit stop halfway through a race!

“And actually, with the last new tyre, he did his fastest lap time and used the least amount of tyre.

“Those are the sort of things you'll be looking at because, to be quite honest, even if you start quite low down on the grid, if you've got a tyre underneath you that does the whole race distance you'll probably pick up five or six positions for free anyway.

“Everyone will have their own targets and goals. We have ours and what we want to achieve, especially in the first few rounds."

“Fermin will impress a lot of people this year”

Carchedi also insisted he wasn’t concerned by Aldeguer’s tough season in Moto2 last year.

The pre-season favourite may have matched champion Ogura on three race wins during the first season of Pirelli tyres. However, seven non-scores meant Aldeguer finished almost 100 points behind the Japanese.

“They changed tyre manufacturer in Moto2, which caused difficulties for a lot of riders. Every [top] rider seemed to have a period of three-four races where they looked unbeatable and then the next three-four races they really struggled.

“I think the circumstances of it being the first year with Pirellis and everything means you don't really take it too much into consideration. I mean, Fermin’s end to [2023] was absolutely unbelievable, he was the only one who could give it to Pedro, who we know is a world-class rider.

“I think Fermin will impress a lot of people this year.”

Gresini will officially launch its 2025 MotoGP campaign with a team presentation featuring Aldeguer and Alex Marquez on Saturday, January 18th.