Jorge Martin admits “I was in doubt about coming to Qatar” due to injury

Aprilia’s Jorge Martin admits he was “in doubt about coming to Qatar” as late as last Tuesday due to his injury, as he managed to keep his title hopes alive in the race.

The 2024 world champion fractured his right wrist in a crash during the Phillip Island sprint, which forced him to miss both races at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

This set Marc Marquez up for his first title match point at the Qatar Grand Prix, though third in the sprint and seventh in the main race, with the Ducati rider second in the latter, keeps the championship alive to Portugal.

Martin is now 60 points down on Marquez, but admits he nearly didn’t travel to Qatar at all.

“I could have fought for the podium”

Reflecting on his race, Martin says he struggled in the last laps with his wrist, but believes he could have fought for the podium had he qualified higher than 11th.

“For sure, I feel a lot of pain on my wrist,” he began.

“But I think the effort was really, really good.

“I did my absolute best during all of the weekend.

“Tuesday, I was really in doubt about coming to Qatar or not, and finally I finished the weekend with a podium and a top seven.

“So, I’m really, really happy. It’s a pity that I qualified so back, because I think maybe qualifying further ahead maybe I could have fought for the top five or the podium.

“But this is what it is. We go to Portimao just trying to be more competitive.

“I think it was more mental. After 12, 13 laps I started to feel like I was going to give up, in terms of pace, and relax a bit.

“But I saw I was even catching [Enea] Bastianini, [Pedro] Acosta.

“So, I said, ‘OK, you cannot give up now. Push for the last 20 minutes and then you will rest for one week’.

“So, I did my best. Then, for sure, it was four or five laps to go when I had nothing else.

“I was just on the bike trying to do laps, just trying to finish the race.

“I think we have to be proud of the job we did.

“The bike was working well, but I wasn’t quite able to take the maximum out of it. I hope to recover well physically, because I think that was the key this weekend.”

“I don’t care about the championship

Martin has to get Marquez’s lead down to 36 points in Portugal to keep the fight going to the finale in Valencia.

However, keeping the title fight going is not the most important thing for Martin now, he claims.

“I think I will continue doing the same therapies as I was doing until now,” he said.

“I think they were working quite well.

“For sure, staying some days at home will give me the energy I need to recover and to attack, because, at the moment, I don’t really care about the championship.

“I just want to be on my 100% and enjoy these last two races with Aprilia, trying to make wins. I don’t really care about the rest.”