Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Martin faced a difficult Austrian Grand Prix, admitting afterwards that his “biggest mistake” wasn’t crashing out, but rather a lack of early-race experience with his Aprilia RS-GP since returning from a lengthy injury layoff. Having finished 10th in the sprint race, Martin made a promising start on Sunday, launching from 14th on the grid and overtaking five riders in the opening corners to run ninth. As the laps unfolded, however, Martin found himself continually shuffled backward, ultimately crashing out of 15th on lap 14 at Turn 7.
The crash—a painful one, as he got his foot caught in the bike—led to a visit to the medical centre for checks. Thankfully, Martin suffered no serious injury, though he admitted to “pain everywhere” after the incident.
Reflecting on the race with TNT Sport, Martin remained upbeat. He explained his early aggression ended up costing him, as he “missed some experience” with his Aprilia on race starts and was outmaneuvered by rivals. He went to say that he does not have enough experience to use the strengths of the Aprilia to his advantage yet and stressed the importance of accumulating more laps to better understand his machine, saying, “It’s a pity we didn’t make it until the end of the race because we still need to ride.” He concluded on a positive note, looking ahead to the upcoming Hungarian round and expressing confidence that he and his team are “closing the gap to the front runners” with an improved base set-up after a challenging weekend.
