Aprilia's Jorge Martin has set his sights on once again becoming a rider capable of fighting for the top spot in MotoGP.
A year ago, at the same place and at the same time, Aprilia unveiled its 2025 project with reigning world champion Martin, who at the time wore the #1 on his bike.
One year on, and after four injuries, four surgeries and having finished only four of the 22 grand prix last season, Martin is trying to put behind him the memory of the worst season of his career and only wants to “look ahead”, focusing on regaining competitiveness and being able “to fight to be with the front runners”.
"I'm feeling good," he said at Aprilia's launch. "I'm really happy to be here for this team presentation. For me, today is like a big new opportunity to sign again.
"For sure, [in the] winter, I had a lot of work to finally get back to full fitness. I'm ready for what is coming."
Aprilia was competitive last season, especially in the latter part of the season, but the jury is out on whether it can significantly close the gap to Ducati.
"It’s difficult to know - we still have to understand whether this year’s bike is better than last year’s, but there will definitely be improvements," Martin added. "The most important thing is that we have the ambition to fight for the maximum, although we don’t know what will happen during the season.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Aprilia Racing
"The bike finished the season at a very high level and we have to start from there, with desire and motivation. We need to understand many things and work very well in testing to get used to the Aprilia. I’m convinced it will be a great season. The goal is to try to fight for the title."
Martin does not want to set himself ambitious targets, but he is clear about what is expected of him at Aprilia.
"I'm optimistic," he said. "I think if there is any place to fight again for winning at the moment it is here in Aprilia. We could see last season the results were impressive.
"That's what I was contracted for, to win the title. So I will try to fight, to fight till the end with all my tools. And this is my target, to work on myself, to work on the bike.
"I'm sure that I need a bit of time, because I need to get to know the bike a bit more. But I'm pretty sure that when I feel ready with the bike and I know what I have under my legs, I will be ready to fight to win."
Martin is 100% recovered from the injuries that plagued his 2025 campaign, but his body is still not completely “healed” after so many visits to and from the operating table.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: Aprilia Racing
"Once I’m 100% physically, every lap I can do on the bike in testing will be very important, as we learned last year. I’m going to look for inspiration in my 2023 season [with Pramac Ducati], when I didn’t start very well but was able to end up fighting for the world championship. I hope to repeat a year like that."
If a year ago Martin was number one at Aprilia, the roles have changed and, after his great 2025 season, Marco Bezzecchi is now the spearhead of the Aprilia project.
"Marco is in a much better position at the moment than me," Martin admitted. "He already knows the bike, so he knows where to push and where not to push."
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- The Autosport.com Team
Source: Autosport