Arm injury effectively ends Martin's MotoGP title chance
Jorge Martin and his Aprilia MotoGP team have suffered a huge blow in the 2026 title race, with at least one fracture discovered after his crash in the Phillip Island sprint.
Martin exited the sprint race at the fast Hayshed corner (Turn 8) after a multi-lap lead battle with title rival Marc Marquez.
He rolled violently through the gravel and was taken to the medical centre on a stretcher, before emerging from it with his right arm in a cast.
Aprilia subsequently revealed that Martin has fractured his right arm - and while he will still require further examinations to determine the full extent of the damage, he has been declared unfit for the remainder of the Phillip Island weekend.
According to Aprilia, a fracture to the right radial bone - one of the two primary bones in the forearm - has been definitively diagnosed. But there is also a suspected fracture to the other primary forearm bone, the ulna, "at the distal end" (which means towards the wrist rather than the elbow).
No recovery timeline has been outlined given the absence of a full diagnosis, but the injury makes it all but impossible for Martin to realistically remain in this title race.
He is 10 points behind Marquez in the standings and will miss Sunday's race, but the injury has also come at the start of a planned triple-header (covering also the Sepang race and the in-doubt Qatar race).
Martin had suffered two radial fractures already (both on the left arm) earlier in his grand prix career.
One came during the 2018 season in Moto3, forcing him to miss one race but with a quick enough recovery to enable him to win the title that year, while the other happened before the start of the 2025 season and (along with a spate of other injuries from the same crash) sidelined him for two rounds.
