Jorge Martin retires at Sepang and gives up on the World Championship: “For me, it’s already over.”

The MotoGP World Championship, at least in his mind, is already over. Jorge Martin left Sepang with his wrist still far too fragile and with an admission that weighs more heavily than the retirement itself: "Maybe I can still win it, but for me it's already lost". The Aprilia rider stopped on Saturday morning, after one final attempt in FP2, and now has just one goal: to make it to next week's Qatar GP.

We already explained the technical reasons behind his withdrawal in Jorge Martin gives up in Sepang: "Here's why I decided to stop". In short, the issue was a lack of strength: after one lap, the pain set in and the Spaniard had to loosen his grip on the handlebars. "The main problem was braking; I had no strength", he explained.

The fracture to his right wrist had occurred in the Phillip Island Sprint. Martin had still received medical clearance to continue the Malaysian weekend, but his body couldn't withstand the distance of a race. The memory of a previous season marred by injuries also weighed on his decision to stop. "So carrying on wouldn't have been the best choice, because it would have meant learning nothing from the past. It's happened to me before, and I didn't want to crash or suffer a worse injury by trying to race in these conditions."

Despite his disappointment, the Madrid-born rider couldn't hide a touch of pride in what he had managed on track with a broken bone: "I lapped in under two minutes without even pushing to the limit; I'm proud". But riding twenty laps was another matter, and there were no realistic points to be taken home.

As for the championship, Martin has chosen not to get his hopes up. "I'll certainly fight until the end, not just for myself, because I'm already a world champion, but also for my team and the people close to me", he said.  

His recovery plan mirrors last week's: head straight home and begin treatment the very next day. His presence in Qatar is by no means guaranteed, however. If he feels the same as he did in Sepang, he explained, he'll have to stop again. But if his progress continues at the same pace as in recent days, the outlook will change: "If things continue like this, I could be at 80%, and if I could race, I could definitely score points".

The answer will come in Lusail, where Martin will try to end, at the very least with dignity, a season that had seemed capable of taking him back to the top of the world.

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