Jorge Martin has admitted that his chances of winning the 2026 MotoGP championship are over following his withdrawal from the Malaysian Grand Prix, although he remains determined to fight until the end of the season. The factory Aprilia rider attempted to race at Sepang just a week after breaking his right wrist in the Phillip Island sprint, but was ultimately forced to withdraw from the weekend just before the start of qualifying.
Title Hopes and Team Commitment
Having already dropped to second in the championship in Australia, 10 points behind Marc Marquez, Martin is expected to lose further ground to his Ducati rival across the two points-paying races at Sepang. With only three rounds remaining after Malaysia, the Spanish rider has conceded that he considers his title challenge effectively over.
“For sure, the championship is there. I think now I don’t have to think about the championship. Maybe I can win it, but for me it’s already lost,” Martin stated, as reported by Autosport.com.
However, the rider remains keen to put up a fight in the closing stages of the season for the sake of Aprilia, which is fighting for its maiden titles in MotoGP. “For sure, I will fight till the end,” he vowed to Autosport.com. “Not only for me, because at the end of the day I’m already champion, but for my team, for my people I will fight till the end.”
Injury Setback and Decision to Withdraw
While the non-displaced radius fracture that Martin suffered usually takes several weeks to heal, he underwent an extensive recovery programme in a bid to race in Malaysia. But after returning to the track in FP2 to assess his conditions, the 28-year-old ultimately decided that he wasn’t fit enough to continue with the weekend and is now hoping to recover sufficiently in order to take part in next week’s Qatar Grand Prix.
“I tried, I tried my best, I tried to ride, but the process of healing is still early,” he explained to Autosport.com, adding that the healing was going fast but not enough to be efficient on the bike. He noted that he felt he could ride with almost no pain for perhaps one lap, but afterwards started experiencing a lot of pain and could not maintain consistency.
Martin admitted that his decision to withdraw was also necessary to avoid aggravating the injury further, noting he wanted to avoid repeating past mistakes, particularly in 2025 when he rushed back to race in Qatar following a double injury sustained during pre-season. He stated that he did not have the desired strength and needed to release the handlebars as soon as pain set in, making it useless to continue deteriorating the hand over 20 laps.
Martin will immediately fly back to Spain to focus on rehabilitation and prepare for his comeback in Losail, planning to start his therapies right away on Sunday.
