Jorge Martin’s Challenge: “Aprilia, I’ll bring you the World Championship even with a handicap.”

Jorge Martin was clear over the Silverstone weekend. "Aprilia will fully support me in the race for the world title." On that, there is no doubt.

The chance for the Noale factory to make history and win the MotoGP world championship is too tempting, even more so with the advantage of being able to launch this assault with multiple riders. Although the 2024 world champion will leave Aprilia Racing at the end of the season, the Madrilenian will be guaranteed all the support possible to hit the target. That said, Martin will have to contend with a handicap compared to other title contenders.

It’s often overlooked that Jorge Martin is currently leading the championship standings despite coming off a brutal 2025 and, not least, skipping the first pre-season tests at Sepang. More than a world campaign, for JM89 it’s a genuine chase. In a short time he had to make the RS-GP26 his own, managing to lead the standings at the season’s halfway point by maximizing all (or almost all) the opportunities that came his way. There were some heavy setbacks and mistakes (see Balaton), but also a consistency that has allowed him to look down on everyone else in the championship.

From here on, Martin will also have to deal with a price to pay compared to other competitors. In fact, due to the triple injury in 2025, he will be discovering new circuits aboard the Aprilia RS-GP. Essentially for half of the rounds currently on the world championship calendar. Taking Lusail into account as well (likely to be canceled), out of 10 tracks, Martin last year raced or tested with Aprilia on only 5. Specifically Spielberg, Misano, Motegi (where he fractured his collarbone in the Sprint), Valencia and, indeed, Lusail, where he was the unlucky protagonist of a very dangerous race incident.

Compared to other riders, this will represent a handicap for Jorge Martin, who nonetheless managed in this first half of the season to make up for this gap by bringing home important points. In a world championship that will be decided point by point, the most suitable strategy.

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