Marco Bezzecchi says his Aprilia machinery “doesn’t always accept” how he rides during qualifying following the opening MotoGP round in Thailand.
Bezzecchi started his career with the Noale-based factory by qualifying eighth and finishing inside the top six in the main race on Sunday.
The Italian said he “expected” his season to start in this manner but stressed he is still aiming for better results from qualifying.
“At the end, it’s not better, not worse,” he said via Crash.net.
“It’s almost how I expected to begin the season. To be honest, I wanted to do better in qualifying.
“Still in time attack I’m not the best. I didn’t try many time attacks in testing because of the items to try, so we didn’t concentrate on that and I think I’m paying a bit for this lack of time attacks in testing.
“It’s the point where I have to improve the most. I think when I have to ride even more by instinct like I’m used to doing in the past years, the bike doesn’t always accept how I ride in time attack.
“So, this is why I make some small mistakes.”
Marco Bezzecchi: ‘Tough to deal with Aprilia front tyre temperatures’
Speaking about his debut grand prix aboard the RS-GP, the Rimini native suggested the front tyre overheating prevented him from making any progress after the race start.
“The start was ok, fortunately, and from that point, it was completely another story,” he said of his grand prix.
“It was tough anyway because being behind some bikes puts everything really hot, especially the front tyre that from the beginning was over-temp.
“I had the alarms on the dash through all the race. Also when I passed Jack [Miller], I had free space in front, I spent four laps trying to remove the alarms from the dash.
“But anyway, some positive points. I wanted to get in front of Jack and Raul [Fernandez] earlier, but I wasn’t fast enough to immediately overtake.”
Aprilia has struggled in recent years with the heat generated by the bike in the flyaway rounds, but Bezzecchi said it was better than what past Aprilia riders had said.
Speaking about the heat of the bike, Bezzecchi stated: “Really, really good, to be honest,”
“It was hot, of course, it’s b******* if I say not. But it was nothing crazy compared to the other bikes.
“I expected hearing the comments from Aleix [Espargaro] and Maverick [Vinales] in the last years much, much worse.
“Or I’m very fit or the bike is very fresh. One of the two. I think the second!”
