Aprilia dominate Jerez post-race test

Ai Ogura leads a 1-2-3 for the Noale brand as Ducati, KTM and Yamaha roll out new parts ahead of Le Mans

MotoGP rolled straight from Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix into a busy one-day test at Jerez on Monday, with Aprilia-powered machines setting the pace and several factories evaluating fresh hardware and setup directions.

Ai Ogura ended the session fastest, punching in a 1:35.944 to lead a Trackhouse Racing one-two. Raul Fernandez had been on top late in the day, but Ogura’s final improvement edged his teammate by just 0.005s. Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi made it an Aprilia lockout of the top three by taking third for the factory Aprilia squad, narrowly ahead of Marc Marquez after the Ducati rider returned to work following his Sunday crash.

Trackhouse arrived with a clear focus on improving one-lap speed and left Jerez with evidence of a step forward, though the team will want to confirm that form when the series resumes at Le Mans.

At Aprilia Racing, Bezzecchi’s day included a high-speed crash at Turn 11, with the rider uninjured. The Noale factory also ran a revised front fairing alongside other updates not visible externally. In the other half of the garage, Jorge Martin concentrated on setup and ergonomics, finishing 10th and reporting strong progress.

Ducati’s test program included updated front aero, a side aero concept previously seen in pre-season running, a swingarm cover and a modified chassis. Marc Marquez, fourth overall, said the work centred on chassis changes and restoring front-end feel, while noting the aero brought benefits in certain areas. Alex Marquez was sixth, with Fabio Di Giannantonio eighth and Francesco Bagnaia 10th.

KTM’s best time came from Pedro Acosta in fifth as the Austrian factory continued evaluating aero pieces. Test rider Dani Pedrosa was also on track to log laps through a packed program. At Tech3, Enea Bastianini worked alone and finished 12th, while Brad Binder ended the day 16th.

Honda kept a lower profile on the timesheets, focusing on development rather than chasing lap time. Johann Zarco was the leading Honda in ninth. Diogo Moreira took 13th after a morning fall that he walked away from, with Luca Marini 14th and Joan Mir close behind, underlining how tight the midfield remains.

Yamaha’s work continued on its V4 project as well as smaller updates to the current package. Fabio Quartararo was the standout in seventh, improving on his best Grand Prix pace and leaving Jerez with momentum ahead of his home round at Le Mans. Alex Rins finished 22nd and stopped early.

At Pramac Yamaha, Jack Miller led the team’s effort in 17th while working to improve front-end feel and trialling minor components. Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed at Turn 3 in the morning but was unhurt and continued focusing on adapting his style, with electronic changes aimed at improving engine braking also on the agenda. Both Pramac machines were seen using rear side aero similar to the Monster Energy Yamaha bikes from the race weekend, with Razgatlioglu ending the day 21st. Despite being listed, test rider Augusto Fernandez did not take part.

Marc Márquez, Ducati Lenovo Team
“A long day, with 80 laps, but fun! We tested many configurations and I am happy with the steps forward, especially in some aspects of the riding. The balance is positive and we can take advantage of a further test in just under three weeks in Catalunya to understand the potential of the new aerodynamics. On a test day like today, the track has a lot of rubber from the race and the feelings, especially in the afternoon, all seem positive due to the grip. Let’s analyze the data and understand when to introduce the new features”.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Lenovo
“I am satisfied: in terms of aerodynamics, the tests went well. We need to analyze the data but the balance is positive. We also worked a lot on the problems experienced during the race weekend to have more confidence in the front end and be able to stop the bike better. I am happy with the steps forward that I hope we will also confirm at Le Mans”.

Jack Miller, Prima Pramac Yamaha
“It was a busy Monday for us. We had a lot to get through and tried to tick off as many items as possible. There were new parts and solutions to test, but we also focused on revisiting some of the issues we encountered over the weekend and, importantly, confirming the things that were working. It was useful to go back over certain areas in a calmer environment and make sure we had taken the right direction, without the pressure of a race weekend. That kind of validation is just as important as trying new things. I‘m quite happy with the base chassis set-up at the moment, but at this stage of development even small changes can have a big impact and sometimes take you a step backwards. We know what we need to do — it‘s about staying focused, working through our priorities, and continuing to build towards a higher level of competitiveness for the bike, the team and ourselves as riders.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu, Prima Pramac Yamaha
“We had a lot of items to test today, and it‘s a shame about the small crash because it cost us around an hour of track time. It wasn‘t anything serious, just a mistake, but at this stage every lap is important.
We worked through several things, especially on the electronics, which is an area where I still need to improve my understanding and where we also need to make progress with the bike. I focused a lot on that today to give as much feedback as possible to the engineers. Now they have a lot of data from me and from the other Yamaha riders, so I‘m sure they will be very busy analysing everything before Le Mans and coming back with new ideas to test. Days like this are also very important for me personally. On tracks like Jerez, I naturally tend to ride like I did in Superbike — it comes automatically — but this is something I need to change. Step by step, I am adapting more to the MotoGP style.”

Fabio Quartararo, Monster Energy Yamaha
“We tested many, many things today: chassis, swingarm, electronics, aero. We already tried the chassis during the race weekend, but I tested a lot of aeros today, and I think the last one that I used was the most positive. For some things we still need to figure out how to further improve them, but it looks like we did find a bit of front feeling today with the set-up and the aero. This is helpful to me, so I can assess where the limit is. Let’s see what the team will bring for Le Mans.”

Alex Rins, Monster Energy Yamaha
“Today we tried so many different things and so many different items. The feedback was positive. I tried to give good feedback to the team’s engineers, so they have an idea on how to keep working on the bike and prepare the next steps. I’m looking forward to riding at the Le Mans track – a circuit that I like – in two weeks’ time. Let’s see how the bike works there.”

Enea Bastianini, Red Bull KTM Tech3
“Today we did good work. We tried different things, nothing big but the step was not too bad. A good direction because my pace was better than yesterday. From the aero side there were some positives and negatives but probably 70% was positive. We’re confident now for Le Mans.”

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
“Today we tested some different fairings and it helped a bit with turning in the faster corners, which was nice. Other than that, we tested a different rear shock which seemed to calm things down and hook-up out of the corners better. Corner entry was a bit more settled as well. Two small changes but in areas where we needed it. Pretty good, and now the guys can go through what we tested and put it together further down the line.”

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
“Maybe a day late but we arrived where we wanted! I’m happy with the new things the factory managed to bring and hopefully we’ll already be able to use them in Le Mans. We found a bit more traction and the new fairing looks like it works. We’ll see. We need to understand what worked today.”

Luca Marini, Honda HRC Castrol
“A really busy day for us here, I was hoping to finish earlier but we kept on working right until the very last moment. In some areas we were able to make some small steps but there was not one big thing, lots of small pieces which can help to add together for something more in the future. Especially on the electronics we were looking for some improvements with acceleration and here we were able to make some positives. These are things which I think can help us in Le Mans where we can see how things are in a normal GP, always in a test you have a lot of grip so it’s not always a true representation. A good day of learning.”

MOTOGP JEREZ POST-RACE TEST TIMES