Raise your hand if at the end of last season you would have expected to see Jorge Martin in second place in the world championship standings after seven rounds of the 2026 World Championship. Yet Martinator is there: after the title won in 2024; after the wave of injuries that ravaged him last year, seriously putting the continuation of his career in doubt; after the tensions with Aprilia itself, which he wanted to leave after a few months and with which he now seems to have established a magical feeling that is allowing him to return to where he had become accustomed to being but where it was not a given that he would manage to return: fighting for the World Championship.
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During the Mugello weekend FormulaPassion.it had the opportunity to interview Jorge Martin exclusively: this is what he told us.
Two years on the roller coaster and only one regret
Two years ago at Mugello you signed with Aprilia and then everything that happened in between: the title won in 2024, the injuries, the tensions now overcome with Aprilia. How have you changed in this time?
“I think I am still the same Jorge as back then, but I have learned a lot. All the bad moments make you grow as a person. Depending on how you manage them, you can go badly or much better. I have managed to improve a lot in terms of mentality, way of living, how to face this life and also the relationship with people. I have learned a lot. Surely I am very grateful also for all the bad things that happened to me, because they made me grow as a person and thanks to those I am who I am.”
Do you have any regrets?
“Everything that happened to me brought me to where I am now. But surely it is true that last year I had many doubts about myself and this led me to doubt my future. At that moment I started living that period which was not nice with Aprilia and for me all that was useless, it was nothing positive. Maybe this is what I learned: that I have to have more confidence in myself. The fact that I learned something from this story is good, but anyway the value of that story was not positive. So if I have to say one thing I would change, I would say that.”
Faith
In some recent interviews you referred to faith, to the fact that it helped you. Not many athletes talk about this. This aspect of you struck me.
“I have always felt like a man of faith. My whole family was and I have been since I was little, always. But it is true that this year I was more curious. I became more curious to know the story of Jesus, I wanted to read a bit about him and I felt him closer and closer. I think about it more often and in general I feel more at peace, happier, calmer with people. I don’t get so angry with others anymore, because I think in the end we have to be well with everyone. Even my friends tell me I am more at peace. In the end I think it is also a very beautiful way to be grateful for everything that happens to you. And then when you pray for something it also becomes a way to visualize what you really want: for you, for your family, for a friend who is unwell. For me it is a way to be more connected with the present“.
The race for the title
You are second in the championship after a third of the season. Do you really not feel in the fight for the championship?
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“Feeling in the fight or not feeling it doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t make you go better. What makes you go better is working every day to be better than the day before, trying to improve my relationship with the bike, knowing it more, being more competitive and this if all goes well will bring me to fight for the World Championship. But as I told you before, believing to be favored or not believing it doesn’t change anything for me, it doesn’t give me any extra tenths on the track. I believe in myself, I will give everything to win. That always. But my goal is not to win, it is to be better every day.”
Can the experience of 2023 and 2024, the challenges with Bagnaia, help you?
“In my career I have won the Rookies Cup, I have won the Moto3 World Championship. But it is true that when you are fighting for a MotoGP World Championship I have to tell you that yes, your a** gets a bit clenched. So in this sense yes, I hope it helps me. Not so much because you say ‘Ok I won, I know what it means to win’. It’s not like that. But more for the experiences I had, going through difficult moments when mentally it is hard to do so. I already know what it means to go through these things and I know more or less how to face them. I hope this will give me something extra. But anyway the battle is always huge. I have become better thanks to the level of my opponents and I hope at least to manage to fight until the end.”
The relationship with Bezzecchi
You and Marco are second and first in the standings but your relationship seems very good. It’s not a given. Is everything really going so well between you?
“When Marco and I both signed for Aprilia we were both quite happy and we talked. In the past we were not very good, let’s say, we didn’t have a great relationship, but now we have matured and we know that for the good of Aprilia and for our own good it makes no sense to have conflicts between us. We also have fun when there are no races, we do interviews, joke around and this brings a positive atmosphere in the box. We know that by helping Aprilia we are also helping each other and this makes Aprilia go even further.”
A ‘cycling’ comparison
You are a big cycling fan, so I want to ask you these two questions: is there a Pogacar in MotoGP? And which cyclists would you compare yourself and Bezzecchi to?
“This is a good question, it’s hard to answer. There is no Tadej Pogacar in this MotoGP. There is only one Pogacar. He is cycling, he is someone who can never be beaten and this doesn’t exist in MotoGP. Finding a cycling comparison for Marco and me is very difficult. Do cyclists from the past count too? Then for Marco I say Chris Froome, because he is very slim. Yes, he is a Chris Froome who has a lot of rhythm, goes his own way and can win. About me I could say I see myself more like Jhonatan Narváez, the Ecuadorian from the UAE Emirates team. He is short but strong and can win stages of all kinds.”
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