The Fallen Champion: What Is Going On With Jorge Martin?

It's been a weird year for MotoGP in 2025 with some shakeups to the grid throughout 2024 and some pre-season incidents that have left us without our reigning champion competing. We might not have seen Jorge Martin on track but his management team, and a further injury in Qatar, have kept him at the forefront of discussions this year. To fully understand the current drama, we need to get a better view at the #1.

Jorge Martin joined Red Bull KTM Ajo team when he transitioned to Moto2 in 2019 as the reigning Moto3 champion at the time. As is the case in a lot of multi-category motorsports, it's common for the rider/driver academies such as KTM to promote from within. As such, KTM had plans to promote Jorge to their Tech3 satellite team and they had a valid contract to do so. His first Moto2 season saw him finish 11th, which isn't bad for a jump up to a seriously bigger class of motorcycle.

Martin continued with KTM for a second year in Moto2, since he had a contract to do so and managed 5th in the championship in 2020. However, there was an exit clause in Martin's KTM contract that sparked some controversy with the Austrian manufacturer. The clause reportedly stated that he could seek opportunities with other manufacturers if no KTM rider was in the top 10 of the MotoGP World Championship Standings in June of 2020.

Fundamentally, that seems a very reasonable clause to include in a contract right? "If we are not performing well, we don't want to force you to stick around unless you believe in us" kind of gesture. However, there were some extenuating circumstances in 2020 that means activating this exit clause was a bit underhanded. Those circumstances were an unprecedented pandemic - COVID-19, which meant the season hadn't actually started by June 2020. In fact that season only had 14 races, all of them in Europe, starting in July and ending in November.

Enter Jorge's manager, Albert Valera - remember that name for later. The pair utilised this legal technicality to break the contract with KTM and approach Ducati, specifically Pramac Racing, a satellite Ducati team for the 2021 MotoGP season. In hindsight, this was probably a pretty good move, because Ducati turned out to be on the rise, and Pramac had a deal to run the current-spec Ducati bike for the duration of Jorge's contract.

However, KTM felt immensely disappointed with the situation. Their directory Pit Beirer is quoted as saying they would "think twice about bringing such a rider back into the family". Essentially that's what these academies in prototype motorcycling are like, family. Again, remember that for later. KTM had invested a huge amount in his career through their Moto2 program, and therefore sacrificed those resources that could have been better used on someone else.

After leaving KTM, Martin joined Pramac Racing, Ducati's lead satellite team for the 2021 MotoGP season. There was never a question about the raw speed he had, but 2021 was Fabio Quartararo's year for sure. The following two years went to factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia. With his sights set on that factory ride, Martin made a final push to demonstrate what he could give to a factory team - and in case you're wondering why the factory teams are better, it's typically more resources, direct connection to bike development, instant deployment of upgrades, etc.

2024 was a hugely competitive year between Martin and Bagnaia, the pair winning all but 4 races between them. Ultimately, it was Martin's consistency that gave him the championship that year, making him the first independent team rider to win the MotoGP championship, completing the development arc with Pramac. But still the elusive factory ride passed him by. In 2023, the seat went to Enea Bastianini for 2 years, and as such, there was a lot of hype around Martin getting the seat for 2025.

However, someone else had other plans about making it back to the front of MotoGP: Marc Marquez, who returned from injury and moved to Gresini Ducati in 2024, another of Ducati's satellite team, though on the previous spec bike. Marc's competitiveness was immediate, and was met with immense popularity from the fans. In 2024, he was able to take three Grands Prix victories. This gave Ducati quite the headache, because who wouldn't want Marc at their team?

It's rumoured that Marc was offered the Pramac seat for 2025 and Jorge offered the factory seat, but Marc refused. He was getting the factory seat or nothing at all. Ducati were worried they would lose his talent to KTM, and made him the offer of the factory seat. According to The Race, the next steps of Martin's career were made whilst emotional and in a very short space of time. The announcement came between the Italian and Dutch Grands Prix of 2024, and within the same day, Martin approached Aprilia, secured a contract (in English), signed it, and made a big announcement on social media. It is this very move that has created such controversy of late.

The Aprilia contract is not the reason Martin is not currently on the grid in 2025, having only competed in 1 Grand Prix all year. On the very first day of pre-season testing at Sepang in Malaysia in February of this year, Martin suffered a heavy crash, breaking a finger on his right hand and fracturing his left foot in three places. He recovered enough to compete in the first race of the season at the Thai Grand Prix, but days before the race, he had another training crash while riding a supermoto bike. This caused four new fractures, including a complex fracture of the radius and some carpal bones in his left hand, and a left heel fracture; injuries for which he had surgery.

Ok, so that sounds pretty nasty right? But these are professional motorbike racers, they crash all the time, they have access to the best medical establishments and procedures, so it shouldn't have taken that long right? Right. By April 2025, when the MotoGP circus arrived in Qatar, Martin was back on his 2025 Aprilia. The aim of the weekend was to get as much track time as possible, get to grips with the bike, and prove he was still fit enough to ride. That wasn't quite what happened. On lap 14, Martin crashed in the fast final sector of the track when he was hit by the approaching Fabio Di Giannantonio in a horrific incident.

The result was a collapsed lung (hemopneumothorax) and 11 broken ribs on his left side. He also suffered further fractures to his wrist and several ribs. He was immediately treated in Doja and then had to take a series of low-altitude flights home due to the breathing complications of his injury. He has spent the rest of the season recovering at home and getting back into training, and it was rumoured that he would return for the German Grand Prix in just over a week's time. However, he has since been ruled out and is targeting a return at the Czech Grand Prix.

During his recovery after Qatar, Martin announced he'd be breaking his 2-year Aprilia contract for the 2026 season, having only ridden for the team once, and for the total of 14 laps and the sprint race. Thus spawned a petty and rather public spat between Martin and Valera on one side and Aprilia and Massimo Rivola on the other. It's even got to the point where Rivola has petitioned MotoGP a rule change to allow Martin to complete one of Aprilia's three remaining in-season test days to attempt to woo their rider back to the team. So how did it get this bad?

Well, once again it is all surrounding a performance-based exit clause in the Aprilia contract - shock. Martin and Valera assert that the two-year contract contains a performance-based exit clause, allowing Martin to leave at the end of 2025 if certain conditions (believed to be related to his position in the championship standings and/or his ability to evaluate the bike in race conditions) are not met by a specific deadline. This specific deadline, it seemed, was the French Grand Prix. It was rumoured that, since Martin had not competed, except in Qatar, by the French Grand Prix, that Martin had been persuaded to extend this deadline to the German Grand Prix, having not competed at all in that time. The Martin camp argues that these conditions have not been met, allowing him to become a free agent for 2026.

Aprilia, on the other hand, firmly maintains that the contract is valid and in effect until the end of 2026 and must be respected by both parties. They argue that Martin's injuries, while unfortunate, do not invalidate the contract or the terms of the exit clause. Aprilia has publicly stated to take "any action necessary to protect the company" which explicitly includes legal action if an agreement isn't reached.

Ok that's a lot of legal terms and propaganda. Let me try and understand this in a few simpler terms. Let's assume it is about a performance clause, because what else could it possibly be? Martin and his team argue that because he isn't in "nth" in the championship, he can break his contract, and that the clause about not evaluating the bike applies when injury strikes - ok good. Aprilia argue that this is not the case, and the clause is negated by injury. They're so confident in this that, if an agreement can't be reached, they will take Martin to court to make him honour his contract - and they're pretty serious about it too.

Here's where it gets a bit messy. A lot of these statements were made in the shadows. Rumours, maybe intercepted communications, chatty PR people, a couple of posts on Instagram, but nothing too serious. That was until the Dutch TT last weekend, where Valera reportedly approached members of the press to make a public statement. The statement in question was that Martin is "free of contract for next year, for 2026" and has "executed the clause he had in the contract". Valera indicated that Martin is "completely open, available" to talk to other manufacturers, with Honda (and maybe KTM) cited as a potential option. That was Saturday morning before qualifying for the Dutch TT, a session in which Bezzecchi put the Aprilia in fifth on the grid.

Aprilia reiterated that they have a contract, which is binding, with martin and that their rider is not a free agent. They are keen to stress that Aprilia's priority is for Martin to honour his contract, and they believe they can fight for the championship with him. Based on Bezzecchi's performances this season, they're probably not wrong either. However, it took less than 24 hours for the big boys to step in and make a statement - Dorna, the MotoGP promoter and commercial rights holders (for now).

Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, weighed in publicly (as Valera did) and backed Aprilia's position. He stated unequivocally that Dorna will not allow any rider to enter the championship with a new team if they are still under dispute with a previous team, unless a clear agreement is reached between the parties or a court rules in the rider's favour. Essentially putting out a big warning to the Martin camp that they need to get this position sorted before 2026 or he cannot race. This is to avoid the Oscar Piastri situation, who was racing for McLaren in 2024 while in dispute with Alpine about a possible contract he held with the French team. Essentially this means Martin would not be able to sign with Honda or any other manufacturer for 2026 unless he has resolved the situation with Aprilia.

There are a few outcomes that could come of all this, none of them are particularly good, for Martin. Firstly, they could negotiate a settlement between the two parties. This is the preferred outcome. Essentially Martin and Aprilia would find a mutually agreeable solution, potentially with some compensation if Martin is allowed to leave early. The compensation would be to the party that was in the right - whether that's Martin or not.

There could be a lengthy legal battle, if an agreement cannot be reached, and Aprilia has made it clear they are ready to go on this one. A protracted legal battle could be costly and disruptive for both sides, potentially delaying Martin's return to the sport for 2026. Since this is quite likely to be a long process, and if he really doesn't want to ride the Aprilia, he could just take another year out. He's basically missed all of this year already, and there's no way he's catching Marc. Next year, with few regulation changes, it's unlikely anything other than Marc Marquez on a Ducati will win the title, so take some time out to train and return to full health.

The only agreement that could leave both parties happy is an agreed settlement. No rider wants to be forced to race for a team they don't want to by a judge, nor would a team want to run a rider they knew didn't want to race for them. But the bigger issue for Martin is this is now 3 of the current 5 manufacturers he has burnt bridges with in 5 years. The only remaining factory teams being Yamaha, who seemingly drop backward in every race, and Honda, who he is rumoured to be joining. MotoGP factories are like a family, they welcome you in, protect you, build you up, it's an emotional sport. KTM have suggested that they could work with Martin again in the future, but there's no guarantee they will be on the grid next season. So what does the reigning world champion do then?

Honda are a big risk too. They've shown no signs of being competitive this decade, their last title coming in 2019 with Marquez. The factory team is currently lower than the satellite team in the standings, and yes this was helped by Zarco's win at the French Grand Prix, but nonetheless, they are at the back with Yamaha and show no signs of progressing any time soon. With huge regulation changes coming in 2027, there's no guarantee anyone will be competitive. It seems a big song and dance about nothing. It's buyer's regret for a contract made during an emotional afternoon in a short space of time, and it's not the way a reigning champion should behave. Public opinion is already reaching a new low for Martin, and it's unlikely these statements will be forgotten any time soon.