Jorge Martin set for Madrid return as Aprilia “treat him like a son”

Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola has confirmed that Jorge Martin will be transferred to Madrid this weekend as the reigning MotoGP champion continues his recovery from serious injuries in Qatar.

Martin, who was making his long-awaited Aprilia debut, suffered eleven fractured ribs and a collapsed lung after crashing out of 17th place midway through the Lusail race - his first grand prix appearance since injuries in pre-season testing and training.

The Spaniard has remained in Qatar under medical supervision ever since.

Speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, Rivola said: “The first good news was when [Jorge] could leave the hospital to go to the hotel.

“The other good news is that on Saturday, in two days, he will be able to fly back to Madrid with an ambulance [medical flight]

“In Madrid, they will do some checks at the Ruber International Hospital. After the checks, we start knowing what is the real situation and get maybe an idea of the recovery time.”

No return date – Aprilia “treat him like a son”

Rivola made clear there is no timeline for Martin’s return, nor any pressure being placed on the rider to hasten his comeback.

“We don’t want to do any forecast. We want to give him all the time he needs. There’s no rush... We want him back one hundred percent.”

Rivola then described how Aprilia plans to support Martin as he recovers from his third set of fractures since February.

“The only thing we have to do it now is to treat him like a son. If I have a son, I want him back when he’s ready to do it and let him feel that we love him and we stay close to [him]. And that is priority number one.”

Qatar incident reignites kerb debate: “F1 decides”

While Rivola defended the decision to let Martin return at Qatar - stating the rider and doctors had all cleared him to race – he pointed to track design as a key factor in the severity of the incident.

Rather than sliding off the track, Martin slid along the kerb, in front of the following Fabio di Giannantonio, who had no chance to avoid clipping the Spaniard.

“It could have been a normal crash but that kerb is made for cars and not for motorbikes,” Rivola stressed.

“When you race at the same track as Formula One, it’s difficult to pretend too much. In the balance between F1 and MotoGP, F1 decides!”

The remarks reignite the safety debate around shared F1/MotoGP venues due to car-oriented kerbs and asphalt run-off areas.

Savadori steps in again as Aprilia ramps up development

With Martin sidelined, Lorenzo Savadori will again step in at Jerez, balancing race duties with his test rider responsibilities.

"Having him racing is an opportunity for him to get up to speed and a good opportunity for us to keep testing things that would have to be done in private testing or eventually one item at a time during the race weekend," Rivola said.

"It is always very difficult [to test with race riders] during a race weekend. But now Lorenzo can do it easily because his mental attitude and approach, he knows that he’s here to test.”

Bezzecchi pace promising, but qualifying still key

Rivola also defended Marco Bezzecchi’s mixed results, saying the former VR46 rider’s race pace has been top-five calibre - if he can unlock a better qualifying lap.

“Honestly, I’m happy about Marco. He recovers, he overtakes... if you start 15th and finish P8, you are doing a good race.

“The question mark will be - if Marco starts 8th, can he win the race?! This I hope that we’ll discover soon.”

Bezzecchi currently sits seventh in the riders’ standings, with a string of recovery rides showing promise, but no podiums yet in 2025.