Carlo Pernat thinks Marco Bezzecchi likely played a role in Jorge Martin’s decision to inform Aprilia of his plan to trigger an exit clause in his contract and leave the team.
The Spaniard attended the French Grand Prix at Le Mans to inform Aprilia about his intent to leave at the end of the 2025 MotoGP season. Martin only joined the Noale outfit at the start of this year alongside Bezzecchi as Aprilia parted with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales.
But it has been far from the season that his predecessor with the Italian factory expected, as Espargaro tipped Martin to fight for the 2025 rider’s title with Aprilia. The 27-year-old is yet to score a point so far, having only contested one round due to his flurry of injury problems.
Along with the Madrid native’s injuries, Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura is the top-ranked Aprilia rider in the standings in P10. The Japanese gem further only has 43 points to trail Ducati ace Marc Marquez by 128 points, while Bezzecchi is Aprilia’s highest-ranked rider in P12 with 38.
Carlo Pernat thinks Jorge Martin triggered his Aprilia exit clause after speaking to Marco Bezzecchi about their bike
Veteran MotoGP rider agent Pernat also thinks Martin told Aprilia he plans to trigger his exit clause at Le Mans after speaking with Bezzecchi plus the team’s mechanics about their bike. The RS-GP25 has been very uncompetitive to leave Aprilia 10th in the teams’ championship.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
He told GP One: “We have reached the point that the rider but not only for the injury, most likely he speaks with Bezzecchi, speaks with the technicians, speaks with everyone and he understands that this bike is probably not what he thought or at least believed it to be.”
Jorge Martin will give Aprilia six races to show they can make the RS-GP25 competitive
Martin has only contested one round of the 2025 MotoGP season aboard an RS-GP25 so far, having missed the first three due to the complex fractures to his left hand sustained in a pre-season crash and the past two after crashing on his debut for Aprilia at the Qatar Grand Prix.
He will sit out many more, too, with Martin unlikely to return from injury until the Czech Grand Prix on July 18-20 at the earliest. In the 2024 champion’s absence, no Aprilia rider has so far qualified higher on an RS-GP25 than the P5 that Ogura took on debut at the Thai Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marco Bezzecchi from net worth to race number
The Trackhouse racer also secured the best race result for an Aprilia rider so far this year at Buriram, as Ogura recorded the best MotoGP debut since Marquez in 2013 with P5. No one using the RS-GP25 finished higher than 15th in Argentina, and none reached Q2 in America.
So, Martin told Aprilia of his plan to leave as the exit clause in his contract is now active due to the Spaniard, albeit largely due to injuries, not being a championship contender after the French GP. But Martin will give Aprilia until the Czech GP to prove why he should stay there.
