Marco Bezzecchi Sees Smaller Step with 2026 Aprilia RS-GP

MotoGP, Sportrik Media - Marco Bezzecchi believes the 2026 RS-GP from Aprilia Racing represents an improvement over last year’s bike, but concedes the step forward is smaller than the gain the Italian manufacturer made between its 2024 and 2025 machines.

Aprilia enjoyed its most successful MotoGP season to date in 2025, scoring four victories through Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez and finishing second in the constructors’ championship. Over the second half of the campaign, the brand provided a much stronger challenge to Ducati, raising expectations that the performance gap would close further in 2026.

However, following the first pre-season test of the year at Sepang International Circuit, Ducati appears to have retained its advantage. Despite that, Aprilia emerged as the second-strongest manufacturer on the combined timesheets, with Bezzecchi placing second overall.

Assessing the opening test, Bezzecchi acknowledged that the 2026 RS-GP is better than its predecessor, but stressed that the gains are relatively limited.

“The bike is a bit better, I’d say it’s improved a little in all areas,” Bezzecchi said on Thursday in Sepang.
“The character is more or less the same. The biggest change happened between the 2024 and 2025 bikes.”

“This year there are many changes, but the improvements are a bit smaller,” he added.
“It has certainly changed, but it’s difficult to quantify how much.”

Bezzecchi set his best lap of the test late on the final day, recording a 1m56.526s to split the Ducatis at the top of the standings. Despite the headline result, he admitted he was not fully satisfied with his time attack performance.

“Honestly, I expected to do a bit better,” Bezzecchi said.
“I wanted to do a bit better, but it’s difficult because we’re always testing something on the bike and I have to adapt.”

“So I didn’t do the best time attack of my life,” he continued.
“But in testing, that counts only to a certain extent.”

Aprilia also drew attention during the three-day Sepang test with an updated rear aerodynamic package, featuring a more aggressive design than in previous seasons. However, Bezzecchi cautioned against overstating the impact of such developments in the current MotoGP landscape.

“I think, to be honest, in MotoGP, not just for us but for everyone, we always talk about minimal differences,” he said.
“That’s why it’s also difficult for me to give a really clear answer, because in the end it’s very hard to explain.”

With the RS-GP showing incremental gains rather than a major leap, Aprilia now faces the task of converting small improvements into consistent competitiveness as the MotoGP field prepares for the start of the 2026 season.