Jorge Martin (Aprilia): “I don’t need to think about the championship much anymore”

For defending champion Marc Marquez, his eighth MotoGP triumph is within reach. Should he achieve this, he will overtake Valentino Rossi in the all-time rankings and draw level with Giacomo Agostini. The Spaniard cannot achieve this on his own this coming Sunday in Qatar, on the third-last race weekend of the season; it will require poor results from the Aprilia duo of Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi. With a maximum of 37 points available (12 in the Sprint plus 25 in the Grand Prix), Marquez must score 30 points more than Martin and a further seven more than Bezzecchi.

It is conceivable that Bezzecchi could keep the World Championship alive beyond Qatar. Whether Martin will put in a strong performance in the Arabian desert, however, is open to doubt. As things stand, it is unclear whether the 2024 champion will even be able to compete in the races there.

In Malaysia, Aprilia factory rider Martin demonstrated his fighting spirit: with a six-day-old fracture of the radius in his right forearm, just above the wrist, he tackled FP1 without surgery, a cast or a splint. The World Championship runner-up, determined to leave no stone unturned in his bid to improve his overall position, finished in last place, some 2.5 seconds behind Marc Marquez’s fastest time. In qualifying on Friday afternoon, he gave up after three laps; after eight laps in FP2 on Saturday morning, it was finally over.

Willkommen zum Rennen in Sepang

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Pecco Bagnaia und Marc Márquez

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Fans

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Fabio Quartararo

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Pedro Acosta

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Start des Rennens

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Enea Bastianini

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Marc Márquez

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Fabio Di'Giannantonio

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Alex Márquez

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Fabio Quartararo

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Brad Binder

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Marc Márquez

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Alex Márquez

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Ai Ogura und Marco Bezzecchi

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Pedro Acosta

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Marc Márquez und Team

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Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Sepang

© Gold & Goose

Since then, the ‘Martinator’ has been taking it easy on his right arm and wearing a stabilising plastic splint. However, with just under a week to go, his bone has not yet healed and his strength has not fully returned. At the same time, the 28-year-old insists that he will fight for the title right up to the very last moment.

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MotoGP World Championship

06.11.2026 - 10:55

Jorge Martin: A speedy recovery – but still in pain

“I did my best to ride,” he said of his makeshift grip in Sepang. “The healing is progressing very quickly, but it’s not yet enough for me to perform well on the motorbike. I felt that I might be able to ride almost pain-free for one lap. After that, the pain came back strongly. I couldn’t put in a consistent performance. After looking at the lap times and my performance, we decided to stop and wait and see.”

Martin knows: “I don’t need to think too much about the championship. Perhaps I can win it, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s already lost. I’ll certainly fight until the very end. Not just for myself – after all, I’m already a champion – but for my team, for my people – I’ll give it another go in Qatar.”