Another chapter of the Martinator story 🦾@88jorgemartin suffered this heavy crash but managed to get back on track 👏#CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/MduyVgQfre
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— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 15, 2026
“When I fell I immediately thought of Luis Salom. I don’t like to say it, but I think it’s very dangerous to fall there. Fortunately, I hit the bike’s fairing and not the handlebar or other parts“, this is how Jorge Martin commented on his disastrous crash in Barcelona’s FP1 at Turn 12. Words that send chills down your spine.
The Spaniard slid along with his Aprilia into the runoff area – not wide – ending up hitting the bike that had just struck the barriers. A scenario that Martin himself – while falling – compared to the one that cost the unfortunate Luis Salom his life one turn later, fatally injured at 24 by his bike that bounced back onto him after hitting the barriers.
Martin got away with a mild concussion and a blow to his left forearm, then returned to the track in the afternoon.
That part of the track has long been a concern for riders, as Alex Marquez explained: “It won’t be the first nor the last time we complain about safety in that corner, but nothing has changed so far. When you get there, you see the wall. Rins hit the wall last year.”
Pecco Bagnaia – the most sensitive and attentive on these issues – is right to raise his voice and call on his colleagues for greater unity, which would give them more power. The Italian explained: “We have the Safety Commission in 5 minutes. By talking about it we can put pressure, but last week at the meeting there were only 3 of us. And it was an important meeting because a rule was being put in place during the race (the pit lane entry after Marquez-Jerez, ed). Some say they don’t have time. But the reality is that nothing happens and nothing gets solved. If there were more of us, we would achieve something. Not having time to come to the Safety Commission is the biggest problem. In the past we tried with Guintoli to have a union representative, but the KTM riders didn’t agree.”
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Riders cannot afford to be fatalistic about safety. They must unite and make themselves heard. Already in Goiania, among potholes, flying stones, and a track that was crumbling more and more lap after lap, the riders seemed to accept almost everything. A wake-up call is needed before something happens. Act before, not after.
Fatalism and safety never go hand in hand.
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