High tension in the Aprilia garage: a big scare for Jorge Martin

The MotoGP Grand Prix in Barcelona left indelible marks and sowed doubts in the regulations. Tempers flared in the paddock and several riders put their safety at risk. Jorge Martin suffered six crashes in four days, the last one on Monday, an hour before the start of the official test.

Barely time to recover physically and mentally, the MotoGP caravan was back on track on Monday, just hours after what happened in Sunday’s race. A crash for Jorge Martin at Turn 7 forced all riders to return to the pits and clear the track. Although that section of the circuit was not considered critical, alarms went off when the Spaniard was seen in the run-off area after a heavy fall.

For the Aprilia rider it was a weekend where everything went wrong. Although the RC-16 did not seem too badly damaged, the “Martinator” could not get up on his own and an ambulance quickly arrived on the scene. Paramedics immobilized the Madrid-born rider with a cervical collar before taking him to the circuit’s medical center, where he arrived shortly after 11:30 a.m.

The 2024 MotoGP world champion was “conscious and calm” the entire time, but complained of severe pain in his left elbow and right leg. The first exams at the medical center did not reveal any visible fractures, but it was decided to transfer Jorge to Barcelona’s Dexeus University Hospital for further tests, which fortunately came back positive. He will almost certainly be regularly on track at the next round at Mugello in two weeks. “Once again... I’m grateful to be okay after a heavy crash. Thanks to the circuit doctors; their response was impressive,” Jorge Martin wrote on social media.

What happened on the MotoGP test day was just the latest episode of a “cursed” Grand Prix. Tension ran high in the Aprilia camp at the end of the race in Barcelona. After the second restart, Jorge Martin and Raul Fernandez battled for second place through the first corners, behind Pedro Acosta’s KTM. At Turn 5 they touched and went disastrously down. Both then continued, with Raul finishing 17th and Jorge failing to finish the race.

That’s not all. Upon his return to the pits, Martin lashed out angrily at team manager Paolo Bonora. “Yes, I’d like to apologize for what happened,” he later told the media. “First to the team and to Bonora, because I gave him a little shove. I was so frustrated by the situation and by what had happened. I tried to calm myself during the race. But as soon as I came in, the tension shot back up. And yes, I want to apologize to Paolo Bonora. There was absolutely no need for me to push him.”

Tension was also palpable within Aprilia during the race. Right after the collision, Aprilia’s head of racing, Massimo Rivola, headed to the Trackhouse box, shooting a glare at Davide Brivio, the team principal of the American squad. In the end, everything returned to normal. Now it’s time to turn the page and focus on the next home Grand Prix.

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