Jorge Martin reveals Aprilia decision to end his Valencia MotoGP early

Jorge Martin says the “intelligent decision” was to end his MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix early, following discussions with his Aprilia team pre-race.

The 2024 world champion made his return to action for the final round of the season, having been ruled out since the Japanese Grand Prix with a complicated collarbone injury.

Qualifying 17th, Jorge Martin was close to the top 10 in Saturday’s sprint before a mistake sent him off track and plummeting to the back of the pack.

Carrying a double long lap for the grand prix for a collision at Motegi, Martin deliberately ran off at Turn 1 at the start to avoid any incidents before serving his penalty.

Gathering some data on his bike, Martin pulled into pitlane to retire at the end of lap 14, which he says was always in the plan.

“It’s difficult to decide, because you can have a strategy,” he said of his start to the grand prix.

“But, when you start, you know what can happen.

“But I saw perfectly the place where to go and I just went out of the race.

“There was no sense for me to be in the pack, because as you saw with [Johann] Zarco and Pecco [Bagnaia crashing].

“So, I didn’t want this to happen to me. So, I just went out. I did my two long laps, and then I just tried to understand some things on the bike.

“I was really tired the whole weekend, so the target was already to stop the race.

“We spoke with the team, and the intelligent decision was to stop after a few laps.

“Already I did 14 or 15 laps, a bit more than yesterday, which was a good sign. But I was very tired and in pain, so it made no sense to continue.”

He added: “The team told me on the pitboard, so as soon as they told me, I did one more lap.

“I just wanted to say ‘hi’ to my fan club. It’s strange because here in Valencia is always super nice to end the season and you can celebrate coming back to the box.

“But this time I couldn’t do it.”

Martin says, despite his physical condition, he still tried some new things with the set-up of his Aprilia with a view to Tuesday’s test.

“Today, I changed a few things on the bike that were in a direction,” he explained.

“Just for some information. We know some more. We know that it’s not the way.

“Worked on the maps a bit, understanding what I need on this bike.

“I feel we are improving and making steps.

“But the important thing will be Tuesday, because I’m still not 100%, and then the next time on the bike in February I will be ready to risk and take those three, four tenths that I’m missing for the victory.”