In his debut year in MotoGP, the Spanish Jorge Martín has become one of the great attractions of the championship. The start of the rider from Madrid is reminiscent of other youngsters who ended up becoming proven figures and great championships, such as Jorge Lorenzo or Dani Pedrosa .
In his second race in the premier class, Martín amazed by getting pole position, and finished off a dream weekend in Doha , leading practically the entire race and finishing on the podium (3rd).
At the third stop of the course, in Portugal , he suffered a serious injury with various fractures that forced him to go through the operating room and undergo three operations, having to start a rehabilitation against the clock that led him to think “of leaving the motorcycles”, as he acknowledged in an interview on DAZN .
After missing the Portimao race (April 18) and the grand prix of Spain, France and Italy, Martín reappeared in Barcelona , the first week of June, where he was able to verify that he still had a long way to go to recover physically. Martín finished the first part of the season (Sachsenring and Assen) struggling to complete all the laps of the race.
After five weeks of summer break, the reappearance of Martín, now fully recovered, has made him one of the fittest riders on the grid.
In the double in Austria, Pramac’s man achieved two pole positions, a victory and a third place in his first flag- to-flag race, showing that in addition to explosiveness and speed in one lap, he is capable of managing delicate situations.
The summary they make in Ducati , owner of Martín’s contract, is that the Spanish rider has only played four races in full physicality, the two in Qatar and the two in Austria, taking a profit of three poles and three podiums, one of them at the top of the drawer.
However, Martín’s successes come ‘late’ for the rider’s situation to change for next season.
As Motorsport.com has learned, the driver’s contract includes a performance clause according to which, and depending on specific results, he could go directly to the official team in 2022. However, said point of the contract expired on August 1 .
“Two factors came together, Jorge’s injury and the fact that Jack (Miller) won two consecutive races [Jerez and Le Mans]”, a person who knows the terms of the contract explains to the writer of these lines.
“That led Ducati to renew Miller [at the end of May], aware that Jorge’s injury was going to prevent him from meeting the minimum requirements to get on the official team,” adds the aforementioned source.
At Ducati they consider the matter closed and confirm that, if nothing strange happens, in 2022 both the official team and Pramac will remain unchanged in their lineups.
As far as the driver is concerned, he is in no hurry to get to the factory team. In Pramac he has found a good environment to train and work, and he feels very comfortable. Martín’s goal is to continue progressing and become the first Ducati rider in 2023 , already dressed in red.
(Click on the image to see all the photos of Jorge Martín at the 2021 MotoGP Austrian GP)
