After celebrating his first Sprint victory since 2024 on Saturday, Jorge Martin secured his fourth consecutive podium finish—across both Sprint races and Grand Prix events—at the United States Grand Prix, taking second place behind his teammate, Marco Bezzecchi, the new World Championship leader. This confirms the strong competitiveness shown by Aprilia so far this season and Martinator’s renewed form, as he gets closer and closer to regaining peak physical condition and the best possible chemistry with his RS-GP.
“I’m truly grateful; I know what it means to be in a dark moment. So, I’m very happy and I’m enjoying the moment, the here and now, because you never know what will happen next. I’m really happy with my performance,” he commented at the press conference. “I tried to push Bezzecchi to the limit. I think I misjudged the situation a bit during the race, because I thought staying behind Pedro and Marco was the best option. But then I realized I’d overheated the front a bit and couldn’t do anything else. I still tried to push Marco until the end, but he was faster. He’s at a fantastic level, and I tried never to give up, as I always do.”
Third right after the start, the Madrid native found himself a privileged spectator of the contact between Bezzecchi and Acosta on the first lap.
“I saw they were both running wide, so I went on the inside. I wanted to try to exit the corner and maybe pass them both, but then I saw they were about to touch and I even closed the throttle, because if for some reason they had crashed it would have been a difficult and risky situation, given that I was coming up from behind,” he said. “Then there was another (risky) moment right when I was behind Pedro: my front end was really on the limit, but thank God I saved it. I managed to continue the race, and from that point on I was a bit more careful in Turn 1.”
Although he was the only rider to tackle the Sprint on medium tyres, Martin doesn’t think he gained an advantage in managing the race.
“I really don’t think so. I believe we all had the same cards in hand today,” he said. “I think my strength was at the start of the race because I knew how the bike would react under braking. But I don’t know why I wanted to stay behind Bezzecchi and Acosta. So, when I wanted to attack, I realized I had no advantage; I just had problems with the front. “We’re all professional riders; we know how the tyres work, and everyone was fast.”
In the run-up to this weekend, the 28-year-old had seemed quite pessimistic about how his physical condition would hold up on a demanding track like the Circuit of the Americas. That’s why he, in turn, was surprised by how well he held up until nearly the end of the race.
“Yes, honestly, I thought it would have gone much worse,” he acknowledged. “On Friday I tried to save a bit of energy; on Saturday I felt incredibly good, but after the crash following yesterday’s victory, I had some pain in my hand. However, I have an excellent physical therapist and I’m very focused on recovery: I try to come back stronger the day after a hard effort. Today, though, I was pushing as hard as I could, and in the last three laps I had to give up because my left arm was completely shot. I couldn’t brake in Turn 12 anymore, so I let up: even though Marco did a fantastic job, there was nothing else I could do. I just tried to make it to the finish line.”
After breaking the deadlock on the 14th lap of the race, launching an attack on Pedro Acosta that earned the official Aprilia team its third one-two finish in MotoGP, the Spanish rider indeed seemed to have the pace to challenge Bezzecchi in the final stages of the race.
“When Pedro let me go, I tried to use yesterday’s strategy, but Marco didn’t make any mistakes. He was hard to beat. I managed to catch up to him anyway, but my left arm held out until two laps from the end and then gave out: I didn’t have the strength to brake anymore,” added Jorge, speaking about his physical condition: “The bones have definitely healed, but I still lack strength, especially in my wrist. I don’t have much strength; it’s fine for 10 laps, but then, since I lack strength in my wrist, I have to work harder with my shoulder. I always say that the body is perfectly designed: if one part is missing, you suffer in other areas. It will be important now to get a few days of rest. Jerez is a right-hand track, where I’ll definitely suffer less.”
Although he has made giant strides compared to last year, Martin has not yet fully overcome the injuries that marked the start of his adventure with Aprilia. That’s why he took a moment to pray in the parc fermé. He also thanked his family for the sacrifice they’ve made for him: giving up chocolate until he’s back to full health.
“I’m truly very grateful. My whole family prays behind the cameras and doesn’t eat chocolate because they want me to be out there, and even my grandfather, from up there, always supports me and gives me strength,” he explained. “This is my way of thanking them.”