“Time to start building” as Jorge Martin makes long-awaited Aprilia MotoGP return

Reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin says “it’s time to start building” as he prepares for his long-awaited Aprilia return this weekend at the Czech Grand Prix.

The Spaniard has been out of action since suffering multiple injuries in a crash during the Qatar Grand Prix in April.

This followed a winter of injury for Jorge Martin, who missed all of the pre-season following a crash on day one of the Sepang test and sat out the opening three rounds prior to Qatar due to injury from a training incident.

After a day of testing last week at Misano, Martin has been cleared to make his racing return this weekend at Brno ahead of the summer break.

Martin concedes there is “a lot of work ahead” but is confident in the potential of the Aprilia project heading into the second half of this season.

“I can’t wait to get back on the bike - I’m really happy that this moment has finally arrived,” he said in a team preview of Brno.

“Together with Aprilia we have a lot of work ahead, but we have great potential to do well.

“Now it’s time to start building and aim for a strong end to the season.”

Martin hasn’t raced at Brno before on a MotoGP bike, with the Czech venue struck from the calendar following the 2020 season.

His best grand prix result at the circuit came in 2016, when he was second in the wet Moto3 race on a Mahindra.

Martin makes his return to Aprilia in the wake of a contract dispute with the Italian manufacturer, which he instigated during the French Grand Prix weekend in May.

The world champion has been trying to exercise a performance clause in his contract to release him for the 2026 season, in what is thought to have been a bid to sign for Honda instead.

During the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Martin’s manager Albert Valera insisted that his rider was “free of contract” for next season.

However, Aprilia denied this and stuck to its position that the contract between both parties must be honoured for 2026 - even threatening to drag this matter through the courts.

In recent days, Aprilia appears to have won this battle, with reports emerging from AS in Spain that Martin will see out his contract now.

Aprilia declined to comment on this during last weekend’s German Grand Prix, simply stating that its position on the matter had not changed.

Martin is yet to comment on these reports.

He returns to Aprilia at a point where it sits second in the constructors’ standings after a win at Silverstone with Marco Bezzecchi and a double podium weekend at Assen.