Reigning world champion Jorge Martin has returned to MotoGP action for the first time since sustaining serious chest injuries at the Qatar Grand Prix in April, by making the most of the rule change pushed through by his Aprilia team to complete a one-day test at Misano on Wednesday ahead of a full return to action at Brno next weekend.
Martin sustained a fractured wrist, multiple broken ribs and a punctured lung in the fall at Lusail back in April, when he was struck by Fabio Di Giannantonio milliseconds after crashing out of the race - and such was the severity of his injuries that he’s been unable to race since then.
It comes after he already missed the opening three races of the year due to injuries sustained while training on a supermoto bike, meaning that the Qatar sprint race is the only chequered flag he’s seen so far from the opening 20 races of 2025.
Martin was able to test on his RS-GP at Misano thanks to the rule change first proposed by Aprilia following his initial injury. It means that riders who sit out three or more race weekends are now allowed a single day of track action to get back up to speed, something that Martin was able to do in 64 laps of the Italian track.
“I’m really happy to be here,” he said afterwards. “It’s been a really difficult time to arrive, but finally after three months I’m back on a MotoGP bike and I’m super happy.
“It’s a pity that I was injured so many times that we haven’t been able to make the whole season, but now I am back and this is the most important thing.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back really soon, because the feeling today was great. We did a great job, I think, from the beginning, going from less to more and more throughout the day. Finally we were able to work a lot, and I’m super happy and ready for what’s coming.”
However, while he might be back to fitness, he won’t be returning to MotoGP action right away, even as the series heads to the German Grand Prix this weekend. It’s taking place at the Sachsenring, one of the calendar’s rare counterclockwise circuits, and Martin and his team deemed that it would over-stress his body to return to that layout.
Instead, he’ll target a return one week later, at next weekend’s Czech Grand Prix, with Aprilia confirming that the target is for him to travel to Brno and to race, pending medical approval ahead of the event.
Martin’s return to action cannot come soon enough for Aprilia, as it looks to resolve the contractual war that the two parties have been engaged in since early May, with Martin claiming that he is a free agent for 2026 while Aprilia believes he’s still engaged with it. Honda is expected to be his destination if he leaves.
Aprilia will be hoping that a return to action on a bike that team-mate Marco Bezzecchi has shown in recent weeks to be very competitive will persuade Martin to drop his attempts to leave as he finally gets the chance to race the RS-GP.
