Martin admits his title chase could be over after tough call to withdraw

Spain’s Jorge Martin from Aprillia Racing Team during qualifying race at the Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit in Sepang. — FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

SEPANG: Jorge Martin is coming to terms with the fact that his MotoGP World Championship hunt could well be over after making the tough call to withdraw from further action at the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday.

The Aprilia rider, who arrived at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) with a broken wrist from last weekend’s race in Australia, took to the track for yesterday’s morning practice session but only managed to do eight laps before returning to the pits.

The team then decided that Martin would sit out the remainder of the weekend to focus his time and energy on recovering ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix next week.

The 2024 world champion, who is only 10 points behind leader Marc Marquez in the standings before yesterday’s sprint race, admitted that his championship hopes are likely dashed, but insists he’s not throwing in the towel just yet.

“For me, I’m not thinking a lot about the championship. Maybe I can still win it, but for me it’s already a loss,” said Martin.

“But for sure, I will keep fighting until the end. Not just for myself but for the team and my people.

“I tried my best, but I can’t do it. I gave my everything. I think the team did incredible, and the pain was under control, but it wasn’t efficient to be riding for 20 laps.”

Martin was given the green light by the medical team to take part in Friday’s morning practice session, and was then cleared for the afternoon session as well.

But he ended his qualifying practice session early after just three laps following a near crash.

Although Martin leaves the ongoing race weekend to return to Spain for further treatment, he said his recovery over the week has been encouraging and hopes to make good progress ahead of the Qatar race.

“Things have really improved a lot during this week, so we hope in another week it’ll be much better.

“This week I was able to ride in MotoGP with a broken wrist, and I was under two minutes; that’s crazy,” he said.