Aprilia boss hails “special comeback” for Jorge Martin at Czech MotoGP
Martin made his first start since April at Brno
Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola has hailed Jorge Martin’s seventh in the MotoGP Czech Grand Prix as a “special comeback” for the reigning world champion.
The Spaniard has endured an injury-hit year, having missed all of testing and the first three rounds following separate incidents, before making his Aprilia debut in Qatar.
But a crash in the closing stages of the grand prix in Doha left him with multiple injuries and sent him back onto the sidelines.
He was finally cleared to return this weekend at the Czech Grand Prix and impressed on the factory Aprilia, having bagged a direct Q2 place, qualified in 12th and finished 11th in the sprint.
In the grand prix, Jorge Martin was in the top 10 from the off and held firm in seventh to the chequered flag in the 21-lap race.
It capped off a good day for Aprilia at Brno, after Marco Bezzecchi was second and Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez was fifth.
Speaking immediately after the grand prix, Rivola told the MotoGP world feed: “Not perfect, because it’s perfect when you do P1 and P2.
“But super happy for Marco, super happy for Jorge, super happy for Raul.
“I’m super happy for Jorge because we didn’t know anything about his condition really.
“And Marco was just great, super, perfect start. It’s a special comeback. I’m really happy.
“Also you can see the bike is fast, so I think he will have a big motivation in him.”
That last comment is a nod to the contract dispute Martin and Aprilia had been engaged in since the French Grand Prix weekend.
Reigning champion Martin looked to exercise a performance clause in his contract to release himself for the 2026 season.
After weeks of wrangling, Martin confirmed last Thursday that he would be seeing out the final year of his Aprilia deal.
Heading into the summer break, Aprilia sits second in the manufacturers’ standings, 243 points behind Ducati and 12 clear of KTM.
It has also scored enough points to remain in rank C in the concession table, meaning it will not gain any extra benefits for the rest of the year.
Despite missing most of this season, Martin is 21st in the standings on nine points - one clear of his injury relief Lorenzo Savadori and eight ahead of full-time competitor Somkiat Chantra.
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