A little peak behind my curtain here for a minute. While I’m essentially the Motorsport Network’s main podcast producer, I also consult with the MotoGP team for socials. And when I got up from the Elizabeth Underground Line and read the breaking news DM in my Slack inbox, my jaw hit the ground.
“Jorge Martin threatens to leave Aprilia, potentially a legal issue” was the first proposed headline. What in the cinnamon toast fuck is going on?!
I’ve never logged into my office Macbook quicker and asked for graphical help. This was the MotoGP scoop of the year and a salute to German at the MS MotoGP desk for breaking the story. So…now what?!
The Backstory
This story was in the works from Friday. You probably knew this if you’re reading this post, but every article could be someone’s first, so…
Jorge Martin injured himself during Day 1 of the Sepang Test in February, then again in training in February, breaking his scaphoid bone in the process and having him miss the first three races. He returned to Qatar, but was hit in the aftermath of a crash by Fabio Di Giannantonio, and suffered 11 broken ribs and a pneumothorax. He’s been in recovery ever since.
Martin drives up from his home in Andorra to Le Mans on Friday. He meets up with Aprilia’s management and drops the bombshell – That he intends to activate a clause in his contract to leave the team at the end of the season, instead of 2026. It turns out that with just hours to go before Aprilia announced his signing last year, Martin’s camp added a clause that meant he could walk away at the end of 2025 if he wasn’t in the Top 3 in the Championship by the end of Round 6, which was Le Mans this past weekend. Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivera signed off on that clause, which Martin is now intending to activate.
Martin, as a compromise, has offered to replay that six race warming period when he returns, likely for the German GP in July, but Aprilia’s rejected that deal, and claim that because of Martin’s injury, that performance clause is null and void. Neither camp has spoken about the meeting publicly since then.
Dre’s Verdict
Oh Jorge, what have you done?
I think a lot of Martin’s mentality boils down to a key word that’s defined Jorge Martin’s career to date – Rejection. Three of his career flashpoints have led him to the situation he’s in now:
This isn’t even the first time Martin’s used a performance clause. In 2020, Martin was representing the Ajo squad in Moto2, competing against future teammate Marco Bezzecchi for the title. And while Martin was on a contract that guaranteed him a MotoGP upgrade in 2021, the pandemic meant that the Moto2 season was compressed. After the first round in Qatar, the series didn’t race again until July, but there was a clause in the KTM contract that stipulated that Martin could entertain other offers if a KTM wasn’t in the Top 10 in the standings by June 30th. Martin finished the opening race in 20th, and hence, bolted. It allowed him to race for Pramac instead, just as they were becoming a juggernaut customer team on factory equipment.
In 2022, he was rejected for a factory seat by Ducati, who rightly took Enea Bastianini instead. Back then Martin was just starting to show the ridiculous raw speed he’d convert into a World Championship, but he was still too error prone, too raw. Bastianini was putting together a genuine title campaign on a year-old Duke, it was the no-brainer move at the time.
And of course, last year, when Martin had a handshake deal to join the factory Ducati team for 2025, only for Ducati to break it when Marc Marquez told the media in Mugello he wasn’t prepared to ride for Pramac and be a customer for two years running. Marc Marquez was announced as Pecco Bagnaia’s new teammate five days later.
The last two in particular are telling. Being rejected by the girl of your dreams twice is really tough. Don’t ask me how I know. The man was treated very cruelly by Ducati the second time around, and I understand why in the heat of the moment (And likely best mate Aleix Espargaro having a helping hand), you’d jump ship. But that clause says to me he knew what he was doing.
Having a Top 3 release clause in your contract after six races is a Vote of No Confidence. Jorge rode a GP24. He won a World Championship on it. He knew how strong that bike was and he knew that all six Ducati’s on the 2025 grid were going to be on it and it’s arguably the greatest MotoGP bike ever made. While the timing of Martin’s signing was right when the other Italian factory looked at its strongest, with Maverick’s win in Austin still fresh in the memory and three Sprint wins to their name, Ducati was about to go on a 22-race winning streak that was only snapped by Johann Zarco a week ago.
Deep down, I think Martin knew what he was signing up for and created himself a “Get Out of Jail Free” card just in case his worst fears were realised. Throw in two nasty crashes early on with his time with the bike, and the rest of the fleet sitting 10th, 12th and 18th in the standings, and I can see why Martin might consider checking out the other model across the street. Which if anything, is kinda wild because everything about this screams like Martin never truly wanted to walk away from Ducati and did so out of spite in the heat of the moment when he could have easily stayed. Jorge’s lust for factory backing was probably too strong to ignore.
So what next?
Neither party has elected to respond to the story. I think Massimo Rivera has to say something at next week’s British Grand Prix as the media will be all over him for that. Martin likely won’t comment until he’s back in the paddock, which is hinted to be in July at the earliest for the German GP.
Until then, we can only guess. Both parties can’t be feeling great about how this has shaken out, with the story leaking, and both sides looking like they have egg on their faces. Martin for basically signing a contract he had little intention of actually sticking to, and Aprilia for having their pants pulled down by seemingly not having an injury clause in the contract. This deal could end up in court if neither party refuses to back down, but I suspect it won’t get that far. Any good sports manager knows that there’s little point in keeping a talent that doesn’t want to play for you. And Martin’s made his intentions rather clear that he’d rather be elsewhere.
But where you ask? Honda. They’re the factory we all know has infinite resources as they attempt to get back up the grid, and they’re seemingly ahead of schedule given they rank second in the Championship, are fighting to get off Tier D of the sport’s concessions, and have a legit GP win to their name in 2025, with promise of regular Top 6 appearances. There’s promise again here and it’s a good horse to latch yourself onto. Especially given Luca Marini is out of contract at the end of the season.
Everyone knows that, and hence why there’s been rumours circulating over that camp for some time. In France, Johann Zarco openly admitted he wants the factory seat at Honda, even if LCR boss Lucio Cecchinello is suggesting otherwise. Not too long ago, Pedro Acosta was rumoured to be in the running if the Spaniard pushed for an early exit from his KTM deal, even if the buyout on the contract is rumoured to be €6 million on top of a rumoured €10m a year package.
Even Double World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu has been hinted at, with rumours he’s been offered a Honda ride in WSBK for 2026 with a guaranteed MotoGP seat promised for 2027. It’d be a bold and ambitious play for a man who’s only ever had one test at MotoGP level, but he’s so freakishly good in World Superbikes that I get why you might wanna roll the dice on the 28-year old Turkish phenom.
Honda would snap all of those plans for Jorge Martin in a heartbeat, but they know with the Spaniard in potential legal trouble over this arrangement, they’re not going to touch him until they know for 100% certainty that they can legally sign him. In fact, they’ve already had smoothing talks with Aprilia over the situation. It’s a tense affair.
There’s a couple of other seats – Yamaha could let Alex Rins go in similar fashion, and Franco Morbidelli’s out of contract at VR46 at year’s end, but the latter in particular seems unlikely.
It will also be interesting to see what happens if Aprilia loses him, and what they do next. They may have a hard time convincing Davide Brivio at sister team Trackhouse to let either of their riders go, given Ai Ogura’s excellent start to life in MotoGP, and the backing given to Raul Fernandez. Could be Alex Rins if Yamaha lets him go, or a relative safe bet in Moto2’s Manuel Gonzalez.
Whatever you think is next, this was a bombshell dropping for MotoGP. It’s reigning World Champion could be back on the open market for the second year in the row, now with the reputational damage that he quit on his team before he’s even truly ridden for them. Honda’s in the driving seat to get a huge buff in their ranks ala Marc Marquez a decade ago, and Aprilia’s been raked over the coals through actions it would be hard to blame them for.
What a mess. It’s amazing what rejection can do for a person.
