After the Japanese Grand Prix and Indonesian weekend, Aprilia factory rider Jorge Martin will also miss the Australian weekend – recovering in Austria
The MotoGP weekend for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island (October 17 to 19) will not only take place without the new world champion Marc Marquez. Last year’s world champion Jorge Martin will also not be competing “Down Under.”
While Ducati factory rider Marquez was at the start in Mandalika (Indonesia) last weekend, he was knocked off his bike by Aprilia factory rider Marco Bezzecchi in Sunday’s race and injured his shoulder. Bezzecchi’s Aprilia teammate Martin has been out of action since the previous race weekend in Motegi, Japan.
As a reminder, Martin caused the crash at the start of Saturday’s sprint race at Motegi, which also involved Bezzecchi, among others. Martin broke his right collarbone in the crash, which meant he did not travel to Indonesia for the weekend, but instead underwent surgery in Spain.
In Martin’s absence, Aprilia team manager Paolo Bonora said during the Mandalika weekend on Dorna Sports’ TV broadcast: “The operation went really well. However, after consulting with the doctors, I can confirm that [Martin] will not be available to us at Phillip Island. To assess how things will proceed, we will have to wait for the next medical tests.“
Jorge Martin: Recovery with training in Austria
In this context, Bonora revealed that it was ”not a simple collarbone fracture.“ But what was it? ”The bone was broken in two places. That requires a longer recovery period.”
Martin is currently undergoing this longer recovery phase, including physical training, in Austria, more specifically at the Red Bull Athletes’ Performance Center in Thalgau near Salzburg. This was announced by Aprilia on Monday.
Once again, Marco Bezzecchi will be the only regular rider from the Aprilia factory team to compete in Australia this weekend. Unlike the Ducati rider, the Italian escaped without injury when he crashed with Marc Marquez in Mandalika.
When asked whether test rider Lorenzo Savadori might once again replace Martin on the factory team’s second RS-GP25 at Phillip Island, Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola did not want to reveal his hand.
Aprilia plays it safe with Martin
Rivola avoided questions about Savadori during the Indonesian weekend. Regarding Martin, he said: “Jorge is someone who recovers quickly, especially mentally. But especially after what has happened this year, we prefer to play it safe and only attempt a comeback when the time is right.”
Rivola is referring to the long breaks Martin has already had to take twice this year before injuring himself again in the Motegi sprint. The first major setback for the 2024 MotoGP world champion was a broken hand, initially caused by his crash during testing in Sepang in February, which was made worse shortly afterwards by a crash during private motorcycle training. The second was broken ribs, which he sustained in Lusail just as he was making his MotoGP comeback. That was in mid-April, and he crashed again there. As a result of the crashes at the Malaysia test, during private training, and in the Qatar race, Martin has had to miss a total of ten race weekends. The recent Indonesian weekend was the eleventh MotoGP weekend of 2025 without the previous year’s world champion due to the crash at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix. And the upcoming Australian weekend will be the twelfth, according to Aprilia. Martin’s comeback will not be until the end of October at the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend in Sepang at the earliest.
Trackhouse provides update on Ai Ogura
Incidentally, Jorge Martin is not the only MotoGP rider in Aprilia’s service who was not in action last weekend in Indonesia. Ai Ogura from the satellite team Trackhouse Racing was also only a spectator in Mandalika due to injury.
As a reminder, Ogura crashed at high speed during Sunday’s Grand Prix in Misano at the beginning of September. Two weeks later, he wanted to compete in his home race in Motegi, but had to cut the weekend short after Saturday’s race (sprint). How is his recovery going?
“Of course, it’s not ideal, especially in his rookie season, that his learning process has been interrupted,” said Trackhouse team boss Davide Brivio in Mandalika, speaking on Dorna Sports’ TV broadcast.
“He crashed at more than 160 mph in Misano. After that, he went to Japan for his home race. He gave it his all there, but after Saturday’s sprint, the pain was too much. That’s why we decided against starting on Sunday,“ said Brivio about Ogura. According to Brivio, the decision to withdraw was ”made to give him a few more days of rest for Indonesia.” Unlike Martin, Ogura was on site in Mandalika. However, he did not make his comeback there. “Unfortunately, we had to cancel again. The goal now is for him to get fit again for Australia, Malaysia, and the rest of the season,” said the Trackhouse team boss about the MotoGP rookie from Japan.
