An unconventional choice, the victory, and a final scare: Jorge Martin's wild Sprint

Spot-on tire choice, a perfect performance, and even a crash during the celebrations: Martin is back.

When it looked done and dusted for Pecco Bagnaia, his soft rear tire dropped off and Jorge Martin sprang into action, proving that the medium was the right choice. He was the only rider to mount it. On the final lap came the decisive overtake with a sort of block pass that left the Ducati rider no chance. The Spaniard flew to victory, his first with Aprilia. His previous win came in Malaysia in 2024, 511 days after the sprint race victory in MotoGP at Austin.

Considering also the retirement due to a crash of his teammate Marco Bezzecchi, Martinator also took the lead in the world championship standings. One point separates the two Aprilia riders. On the cool-down lap, the two-time world champion popped a wheelie with his RS-GP26 and crashed. He was going fairly fast, so there was a brief scare, but there were no physical consequences for him. His bike did suffer some, a bit banged up from the impact with the COTA asphalt.

Martin appeared smiling on Sky Sport MotoGP’s microphones and shared his emotions: "Now I’m back. After the win I was in shock. I’m not used to winning by coming from behind, usually I’d start up front and try to break away. Winning from the back is even better. I didn’t think much about the overtake, I just went in. Then in the celebrations I did a wheelie, which with today’s bikes you can’t do. But I didn’t think about it...".

The Madrid-born rider explained what happened when he pulled the wheelie and then fell: "I was there and I saw it wasn’t coming up. Second, third, fourth, then I wanted to bring it down. When I brought it down, I lost the front. I feel bad for the team: it was a day just to celebrate, and instead they’ll have to work a bit, too. Anyway, we’re happy, nothing happened, I didn’t get hurt. I was very fast, I don’t know how fast, but I was flat out in fourth: over 100 km/h...".

JM89 was the only MotoGP grid rider to use the medium compound both front and rear, a decision that made the difference: "Starting seventh—he explained—if I hadn’t made that choice, I wouldn’t have won. Maybe I could have stayed with Pecco, but then I would have had the same drop-off. I knew since Friday that the medium would be the best option for me. I had to convince Aprilia: I told the team that if it didn’t work, we’d do like everyone else in the next races. Being the only one on the medium, something didn’t add up, but in the end it was right and it’s given us confidence for future choices".

The Aprilia rider knows he needs to work on improving feel and speed with the soft rear tire, crucial for the future: "The soft puts me in difficulty; I struggle both in the twisty sections and in the time attack. With the carcass we had in Thailand and Brazil I felt the issue less, whereas in the United States I feel better on the medium. We have more information for the race, but we need to improve with the soft and be more effective in the time attack to start further up front".

Even though he leads the overall MotoGP standings, at this moment the Spaniard doesn’t intend to focus on the possibility of winning the world title: "I won in 2024 without thinking about the championship. In the end there’s no point thinking about it: you have to go on track, finish the races, and score points. Then at the end of the year, if I really have the chance to win, I’ll think about the championship. Right now it doesn’t make sense to think about it. If I can win it, I’ll try, but I won’t obsess over it".

Martin realized during the Thailand test that with the Aprilia RS-GP26 he could do very well in 2026, and one aspect especially impressed him: "Braking—I managed to brake hard and in my style. Everything felt normal. Last year, when I braked hard, everything got messy. We made a nice step in aerodynamics". We’ll see how he fares today in the long race. Everyone will start on the medium rear and, with so many laps, it’s not out of the question that some physical pain might emerge, given that his left hand still isn’t at 100%. Hopefully he can race without issues.