Martin's stunning Aprilia deal statement (ad-free)
Added 2025-05-29 13:34:54 +0000 UTCJorge Martin has officially communicated to the world that he expects to be a free agent at the end of the 2025 MotoGP season thanks to a clause in his two-year deal with Aprilia.
Though he has not officially committed to riding for someone else - and Aprilia, which had just won at Silverstone, has not corroborated his status for 2026 - it marks a massive moment for both rider and team, with Honda looming in the background as an interested party.
Val Khorounzhiy is joined by an Isle of Man TT-based Simon Patterson to go through Martin's statement and discuss where the parties go from here.
They also offer injury updates on Ai Ogura and Luca Marini, the latter hurt considerably in a Suzuka 8 Hours testing crash - in what is a crucial contract year for the Italian.
Comments
I guess the parallel of this is Rossi going to Ducati, but where Martin is trying to change the contract so he can get out Rossi tried to make the bike more competitive. Its not just that Aprilia have spent cash on Martin, its tat they now dont have a champion as lead rider for two years which could have pulled an occasional race winning bike into a week in week out contender. Its not just about the contract amount but the damages cause by this split. For Martin - Honda, really ??? Id have reckoned on the Aprilia being equal to Honda even marginally better and he's seriously damaged his brand. Before this statement he could have pleaded PTSD or depression from his accidents - those were his mostly his fault.
Evilchicken0
2025-06-02 11:29:33 +0000 UTCeven if they gave him 6 more races he wouldn’t be fit or up to race pace. so that “clause” is absurd on its face.
Jon Brown
2025-05-30 15:08:16 +0000 UTC
