Jorge Martín, barely back and already penalized at the Valencia GP

Jorge Martín and Valencia don't exactly have a love affair. It was on the Ricardo Tormo circuit in 2023 that the Spaniard saw his last hopes of a title dashed by a crash, sealing Pecco Bagnaia's second consecutive world championship victory. A year later, he won the world title... in Barcelona, ​​following the devastating floods that ravaged Andalusia and the circuit's facilities.

This weekend, he's back with the Aprilia sporting the number 1 after a season in which he was never able to compete. Heavily crashed during pre-season testing and then in training, the world champion missed the start of the season before returning in Qatar… only to crash again.

ALSO READ > Jorge Martín and Maverick Viñales return for the MotoGP finale in Valencia

Injured again, he only returned in the Czech Republic for the 12th round of the season, before embarking on five consecutive race weekends, highlighted by a strong 4th place finish in Hungary. But in Japan, Jorge Martín made another mistake, this time at the start of the sprint race, where his missed braking point at the first corner also caused his teammate Marco Bezzecchi to crash. The Italian escaped uninjured, unlike the Spaniard, who suffered a broken collarbone.

HUGE CRASH between the Aprilias at the start of the sprint race! 😱😱

➡️ Watch the sprint race now on CANAL+SPORT360 📺#JapaneseGP | #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/fXpcHuzPWV

— CANAL+ MotoGP™ (@CanalplusMotoGP) September 27, 2025

While his season seemed to be ending in doubt, Martín will return for the final round in Valencia, but his fitness is a concern. The MotoGP medical team has given him the green light, but the reigning champion could still be experiencing pain during the two races this weekend.

To top it all off, race control announced on Thursday that Jorge Martín would receive a double long-lap penalty for taking out Marco Bezzecchi at the start of the sprint in Japan. This penalty is particularly costly in Grand Prix racing, where it results in the loss of several positions and approximately 6 seconds in total.

Jorge Martín will, however, aim for a good result in Valencia, or even his first podium with Aprilia, to imitate his results of 2021 (2nd) and 2022 (3rd), when he rode a Ducati.