Jorge Martin: “I’ll give my side of the story soon”
Jorge Martin 'back training. I’ll give you my side of the story soon.'
With speculation over his Aprilia future swirling, injured MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin has pledged to “give you my side of the story soon”.
Sidelined for all but the Qatar round due to a succession of injuries, a surprise rift between the Spaniard and his new team has emerged over a ‘performance clause’ in his contract, reportedly giving Martin the option of leaving early.
Aprilia’s only comment came in the form of a pre-British Grand Prix statement:
“The contract between Aprilia Racing and Jorge Martín is valid and in effect, and as such, it must be respected by both parties until its expiration (end of 2026).
“Aprilia Racing has honoured it in full, within the agreed upon timelines and terms, and will continue to do so in the future.
“Aprilia Racing denies that any negotiations have taken place between the parties to modify the duration of the contract, which remains as originally agreed upon.
“The team has no comment on matters that do not directly concern it but expects other teams to refrain from making any kind of offer to riders who are under contract.
“Such behaviour would, in any case, not be legitimate.
“The entire team will continue to support Jorge throughout his recovery process, as it always has, and looks forward to seeing him back on track with the RS-GP.”
On Saturday morning, Martin - currently recovering from eleven fractured ribs and lung damage in the Qatar race - posted on Instagram:
“Happy and grateful to be back to training! I’ll give you my side of the story soon.
It’s been a few very tough weeks on the personal side. Thank you to everyone who supports me & enjoy the British GP!”
"He’s not dealing with an easy situation"
On Thursday, Crash.net asked Martin’s good friend Aleix Espargaro, present as a wild-card at Silverstone, about Martin’s recovery:
“The last week, he felt a big change,” Espargaro replied. “He started to walk, goes to the mountains, starts to do 'normal life'. Not able to train yet, but to do normal life. So it was a big improvement already.
“But obviously mentally he’s struggling. He’s struggling, because it’s a big injury, he lost also the confidence, he started to have some doubts about if he will be fast again or not.
“So he’s not dealing with an easy situation.”
Martin is due to join the other Aprilia MotoGP riders in attending the company's All Stars event at Misano early next month.
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.
