Jorge Martin "laughing" after Davide Tardozzi's jibe about #1 plate
Jorge Martin responds to Ducati boss' comments on #1 plate
New MotoGP champion Jorge Martin continues to evade a direct answer over whether he will run the #1 plate at Aprilia next season.
The provisional 2025 entry list still has Martin listed with a #89, but the final decision might not be revealed until next year’s official team launch.
"It’s a big responsibility to have the #1. I don't know yet [if I will use it]. Not a lot of people have won again with the #1,” Martin told MotoGP.com.
Francesco Bagnaia, the rider Martin defeated to claim this year’s crown, is the only person to have successfully defended the #1 plate in the ‘MotoGP’ era, courtesy of back-to-back titles in 2022-2023.
But the prospect of seeing the #1 plate at Aprilia next year seemed to touch a nerve with Bagnaia’s factory Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi, who told TNT Sports:
“If Aprilia buy this #1, we will see if they are able to carry it on…”
Asked for his response to that comment, Martin, who won the title for Pramac Ducati, said: "I saw this message [on TV] just before the [Barcelona] race and I was laughing.
“From one side, I didn't want to read this, but from the other side, if I get the #1 plate I deserve it. I don't care if I keep it or not.
“If I can take the #1 for one year, I will have plenty of images of it in my house.
“I don't care if I don't maintain it for the future... let's see what happens.”
Aprilia: ‘No pressure’ on Jorge Martin to run #1 plate
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola insists Martin will be ‘totally free’ to decide if he wants the #1 plate.
“It will be his choice. It’s a totally free choice. He will decide,” Rivola said.
“There there's no pressure for that. But the fact that we have the world champion is already a big motivation for us…. It’s a responsibility and an opportunity.”
Martin was eleventh fastest (+1.056s) on his RS-GP debut at the Barcelona test.
“[Martin and Marco Bezzecchi] both reported very similar comments,” Rivola said of Aprilia’s new rider line-up.
“They felt quite a nice bike on braking and entry, good on turning. [But] it's a bike that seems to be a bit more difficult to repeat the lap times with. So we need to work to have a repeatable bike.”
Aprilia was the only factory to defeat Ducati in a grand prix this season, courtesy of Maverick Vinales’ storming ride at COTA.
Yet it proved to be the only time that an RS-GP rider finished on the Sunday podium, with Vinales and Aleix Espargaro slipping to seventh and eleventh in the final world championship standings.
“For sure we need to be better on average,” Rivola told MotoGP.com. “We are sometimes quite good, and some other times quite lost almost. So we need to have a better medium bike, let's say.
“It was interesting also to see to hear comments from riders coming from the reference bike [Ducati]. So generally we got an idea. I think we can do quite a good.”
Martin’s move from Pramac Ducati means he now has the chance to join only Eddie Lawson (1988-89) and Valentino Rossi (2003-2004) in winning back-to-back titles for different manufacturers.
Halting Ducati’s dominance will be an extremely tough task, especially with its revised factory line-up of Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez boasting a combined ten world titles.
However, Rivola says it’s realistic to believe that Aprilia, which has won four GPs plus four Sprints since 2022, will be closer next year.
“Obviously Ducati is the benchmark. I think it's realistic to expect at least three riders from Aprilia to close the gap,” he said, referring to Martin, Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez, who will have a rookie team-mate in Ai Ogura at Trackhouse next year.
“Obviously the expectation on Jorge being the world champion is quite high. But we don't want to put pressure now. The priority now is to help them understand the bike.
“I think we will close the gap, so far the challenge seems to be quite tough but for sure we don’t give up!”
Aprilia’s new MotoGP line-up will next be on track during the opening test of 2025 at Sepang in February,
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
