Jorge Martin confirms he will travel to Qatar to try to race

The factory Aprilia MotoGP team confirmed on Wednesday that Jorge Martín will travel to Qatar to try to race, despite not having recovered from the fracture to the radius in his right arm.

The Spanish rider suffered a high-speed crash two weeks ago in the Australian Grand Prix sprint, while fighting Marc Marquez for victory. He fractured his right wrist in the accident, which automatically ruled him out of the following day’s main race, which rain and fog ultimately forced organisers to cancel.

Martín spent the next five days trying to get himself as ready as possible to get back on the bike a week later at Sepang. However, after finishing almost two seconds off the fastest time in the first practice session on Friday and barely riding in the second one that afternoon, the Madrid native decided to withdraw on Saturday, just before the start of the first qualifying session, and return to Spain.

On Wednesday, Aprilia and the rider confirmed he will travel to Qatar, pending how his right wrist has progressed and whether he is able to apply the necessary force at Losail to stop the bike under braking, which was the main obstacle he encountered in Malaysia.

“It was a shame not to be able to continue the weekend at Sepang, but simply having had the chance to try was an achievement in itself,” said Martín. “I went back to Spain to continue the treatment I need to recover and to arrive in Qatar in the best possible shape.

“Now we’ll see how the body responds, and we’ll start working with the team on Thursday and see how far I can go.”

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Asif Zubairi

Martin will be one of the protagonists of a very distorted weekend in Qatar, where Yamaha’s riders will be absent after the Japanese manufacturer did not lift the clause in all its employees’ contracts restricting travel to areas with an armed conflict.

Marquez is expected, and he has his first opportunity to clinch the title for the eighth time in MotoGP. He will do so if he accumulates 30 more points than Martin and eight more than Marco Bezzecchithe #89’s team-mate in the factory garage of the Noale manufacturer.

In Malaysia, Bezzecchi did not have one of his best weekends, especially on Sunday, when he crossed the line in sixth. The 66-point gap separating the Rimini rider from Márquez forces him to go on the attack at Losail to try to delay the #93’s title celebrations for as long as possible.