SEPANG - Aprilia Racing rider Jorge Martin is shifting his focus to next week’s Qatar Grand Prix after withdrawing from the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) due to persistent pain from his wrist injury.
The Spaniard said although his recovery had progressed significantly, he was still unable to maintain a consistent pace on the bike, with the pain intensifying after just one lap during practice at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).
He said the decision to stop riding was made together with his team as continuing to push himself could risk aggravating the injury, especially with another race scheduled next week.
“My target is to go to Qatar. I will go there and I will try. Then if my feeling is the same, I will have to stop, but we will see it in Qatar.
“The improvement I had during this week was incredible. If I have the same recovery process during this week, I will feel maybe 80 per cent. So if I am able to do 20 laps, for sure I can be in the points,” he told reporters here today.
Martin said he would return home to continue his rehabilitation, following a similar therapy programme that had helped him make significant progress over the past week.
He admitted that while he initially felt capable of riding with almost no pain, the discomfort became increasingly difficult to manage after a lap, affecting his ability to maintain his performance.
“After that I started to have a lot of pain. I couldn’t be constant, so watching a bit the lap times and my performance, we decided to stop and wait. We thought together with the team that the effort I was doing was too much to continue and there was nothing to gain,” he said.
Martin finished last among 21 riders in the second free practice session earlier today, clocking 2 minutes 00.359 seconds (s), 1.843s behind pace-setter Enea Bastianini of Red Bull KTM Tech3.
Bastianini topped the session with a time of 1:58.516s, followed by BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP rider Alex Marquez in second place with 1:58.804s, while Martin’s Aprilia Racing teammate Marco Bezzecchi was third in 1:58.929s.
Despite the disappointment, Martin said he was proud of his efforts to return to the MotoGP bike while still recovering from a broken wrist, having managed to clock a lap time of under two minutes at Sepang.
“For sure I will fight till the end. Not only for me, because at the end of the day I’m already champion, but for my team, for my people, I will fight till the end. For me, one year ago I didn’t know if I was going to be back on a MotoGP bike and I am here fighting for a championship,” he said. - October 31, 2026
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