Jorge Martín to Return in Qatar: "Finishing Will Be a Victory"

Jorge Martín is back. Six weeks after undergoing a complex surgery on his left wrist, following fractures to the radius and scaphoid among other bones, Jorge Martín now has a date for his debut in the 2025 MotoGP World Championship. It will be this weekend at the Lusail circuit in Qatar, after missing the first three races of the season.

"I am very eager to get back on track and I'm glad to at least try to race in Qatar. The goal will be to gain some confidence with the Aprilia RS-GP25 and start doing some laps. I don't know how I'll be physically, certainly not at 100%, but we'll try to give our best and improve step by step. Physically, I don't even know if I'll be able to finish the race, but if we do, it will be a victory because it will mean I'm starting to recover. We need to take it step by step to get back to our level as soon as possible," said the Spanish rider, whose new team, Aprilia, is finally able to display the number 1 on their bikes.

Jorge Martín sees the light at the end of the tunnel after a year marked by injuries. The Madrid-born rider suffered a severe crash on the first day of testing at the Malaysian circuit, forcing him to miss the entire pre-season. A couple of weeks later, another blow came when he was recovering to make it to the first race of the championship, only to crash again in a private training session: "It was one of the most aggressive crashes of my life," he described. In total, ten fractures have kept him sidelined, turning his title defense into an almost impossible mission.

Since his second surgery on February 25, Martín has followed an intensive physiotherapy program to return to the track as soon as possible. He already traveled to the United States to accompany his new team at the last Grand Prix, and if all goes as planned, he will finally debut with Aprilia this Friday in the first free practice session. A routine procedure remains, as the World Champion will be evaluated at the Lusail circuit by the championship's medical delegation, who will give him the medical clearance to participate in the Qatar GP.

A year ago, at this Lusail track, Jorge Martín won the Saturday sprint and stood on the podium on Sunday. In 2025, the real triumph will be being present in the race, if he passes the medical exam first, and the physical demands of the complete weekend program. What is certain, as promised by the championship organization, is that the family photo from the first race of the season in Thailand will be repeated. There, all the bikes were escorted by their riders except one, the Aprilia with the number 1 that presided over a grid missing its champion. A symbolic image that will be corrected in Qatar, when Jorge Martín's reign in the MotoGP World Championship finally begins.