Jorge Martin makes a stronger-than-expected return at the MotoGP season opener in Thailand – he says he is almost back to his best and already has his sights set on the podium.
At the MotoGP season opener in Thailand, Jorge Martin made a clear statement with fifth place in the sprint and fourth place in the main race – and that was faster than expected after the Aprilia rider missed most of the 2025 season and the first pre-season test due to injury.
“Yes, I’m super happy to finish this solid weekend,” he sums up, all the more satisfied. After only two days of testing, he was already back at this level of racing and was even able to improve his base over the course of the days, which was impressive. “So I’m really super happy about that.”
Martin emphasizes above all how important his consistency was over the weekend. Three top 5 finishes – in qualifying and in both races – were “great,” he said.
Martin gives himself “nine out of ten” points
He said he felt “really good” at the start of the race in particular and was once again battling with Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta. “I felt like I was back to my old self again, which is really good,” recapitulates the “Martinator.”
However, the 2024 MotoGP world champion is not entirely satisfied. He knows that he needs to further improve his motorcycle setup in order to catch up with his teammate Marco Bezzecchi and the others at the top. At the same time, he was optimistic: the gap wasn’t too big.
He wasn’t far off Raul Fernandez, his brand colleague in the Trackhouse team, either. The podium on Sunday was definitely possible. Martin therefore rated his own performance as “maybe nine out of ten.” “I’m super happy to have finished and to continue making progress.”
Aprilia rider aims for victory
It is remarkable how quickly Martin feels almost 100 percent again after his recent surgery. When asked when he expected to be back to his best, he said: “I’m much closer than I originally expected.”
During testing, twelve laps were already too much for him. Martin, on the other hand, completed the sprint distance without any problems. The 26 laps in the Grand Prix race were “tricky, but no more so than usual. It was more a case of understanding the bike better with each lap and adapting to it more and more.”
Martin considers the insights he gained to be positive. He feels he knows exactly where his weaknesses lie and where he still needs to improve.
He says he “worked really, really hard” throughout the weekend to identify these small points. He then managed to take another step forward in the race. At the same time, he remains realistic: there will be tracks where he feels even better and others where he will have to fight harder.
Overall, however, the bike works “really, really well” for him. What he still lacks is a stable base of his own. “At the moment, I’m always adapting to the style of the bike. As soon as I can attack the way I want to, I’ll take another step forward and be able to fight for victories.”
