Jorge Martin will arrive in Portugal "almost 100% fit" after pulling off a truly heroic display at Lusail, as Motorsport.com reports. What started the week as a very real possibility of skipping the trip altogether due to a fractured right wrist turned into a grit-fuelled weekend that somehow kept his championship hopes alive and delayed Marc Marquez's coronation.
That resilience saw the Aprilia rider battle through the agony to claim third place in Saturday's sprint before bringing the machine home in seventh during Sunday's grand prix. Starting from 11th on the grid (becoming 10th on Sunday following Francesco Bagnaia's withdrawal) made the task brutally difficult, forcing him into massive risks through the opening corners. Yet he persevered, even if the physical toll was immense.
My hand is swollen up like a melon, but I think I'll be almost 100% fit in Portugal. I'm tough and stubborn. There's something inside me that keeps pushing me to fight,
"I'm proud of what I've done because on Monday and Tuesday I didn't even want to come here, and in the end I managed to finish both races," Martin told DAZN on Sunday evening. "We're going to Portugal still in with a chance. It's getting harder and harder, but we're still there."
The limitations caused by the injury were painfully obvious when changing direction and braking, especially over the punishing distance of a full race run. Riding this beast of a machine without proper control of the levers meant the final laps were pure survival.
"I can't ride properly, I can't brake properly and I can't push the bike to the limit. It was really tough towards the end. For the last three laps, I just wanted the race to be over," he admitted.
While Saturday's sprint success was aided by a bold, last-minute gamble on the soft rear tyre that paid off in the opening corners, Sunday brought a level playing field with identical rubber for everyone. Starting so far down the order remained the ultimate bottleneck for the #89 machine.
"My hand is swollen up like a melon, but I think I'll be almost 100% fit in Portugal. I'm tough and stubborn. There's something inside me that keeps pushing me to fight," Martin concluded. He now heads to the Algarve circuit sitting 60 points behind Marquez and 14 ahead of Marco Bezzecchi.
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