Can Aprilia’s blemished MotoGP star find redemption in 2026?

This time last year, there was a real buzz around Aprilia. In the summer of 2024, it secured Jorge Martin’s signature for the following season, cheerfully offering him a home after Ducati made a U-turn on its decision to promote him to its factory team.

Martin truly represented the first big-name rider to put their faith behind Aprilia, delivering him with a championship-winning package. That two-year deal, which forced Aprilia to dig deep into its pockets to bring together, only aged well as Martin eventually won the 2024 world title for Pramac and Ducati.

The first test in Barcelona brought with it a real sense of positivity in the Aprilia camp. Technical director Fabiano Sterlacchini said Martin had already proven to be a “leader”. When the team pulled the covers off of its 2025 bike in January last year, the No.1 plate stood bold on the front of Martin’s RS-GP.

This really was a project entering a new phase.

A year on, as Aprilia pulled the wraps off its tweaked 2026 livery (which, most significantly, brings back the famous lion decal) at the Sky studios in Milan, the Noale-based manufacturer can reflect on a hugely significant 2025.

It won three grands prix as a team, four overall with Trackhouse’s Australian Grand Prix success factored in; finished runner-up in the constructors’ standings; and completed the top three in the riders’ rankings in what is Aprilia’s best year ever in MotoGP.

None of that success, however, came as a result of signing Jorge Martin.

The Milan launch event last year represented the beginning of a steep slide for Martin, and one that tested his relationship with Aprilia to its limits. Just 13 laps into the Sepang test, Martin crashed and suffered a wrist injury. He was out for the rest of the pre-season, while Aprilia butted heads in the media with Michelin, as they blamed a faulty tyre for the incident.

A luckless crash in training prior to the Thailand Grand Prix left Martin out for three rounds with more injury, before his comeback in Qatar ended in a serious accident. Numerous documentaries since have shown just how much of a toll the Qatar crash took on Martin. He was sidelined until the Czech Grand Prix.

During this recovery period, he made a clandestine visit to the French Grand Prix paddock. On the Monday after the race, media reports emerged that Martin was looking to break his Aprilia contract, citing a performance clause.

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola later revealed that Martin’s manager came to him and told him Honda had made a good offer for 2026. Honda repeatedly denied offering Martin a deal, but Martin’s manager also publicly called the Japanese brand “an option”. Aprilia threatened legal action, while even Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta warned Martin that he would not be on the grid in 2026 if he signed a deal elsewhere while still under contract with Aprilia.

Aprilia stood its ground and won. Martin committed to the second year of his deal ahead of his Brno comeback, though told the media he felt no regret over the episode as he believed he was doing what was best for himself.

Martin ultimately raced at just seven of the 22 rounds in 2025, scoring a best of fourth in Hungary, while missing five grands prix late on due to injury from a crash with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the Motegi sprint.

Aprilia strives to let the past lie

Signed really as a solid number two to Martin, Marco Bezzecchi emerged as Aprilia’s true leader and a rider positioning himself as a title challenger. Of the pair, it is Bezzecchi who looks most likely to become an Aprilia lifer. That seemed unimaginable just 12 months ago.

Aprilia somehow has come through a lose-lose situation in a strong position. The matter earned it a lot of grace from the paddock, but its efforts to put the past behind it and try to integrate Martin into part of its success story remain admirable.

During its launch in Milan on Thursday, that was very much the theme of PR comments.

“For sure, I learned a lot from last season,” Martin said on stage. “I think my team is also really close to me, because last year we learned we need to be together to fight against everything that’s going on. [The factory visit] was really special to be there with all of the historic bikes, to see the most successful [European] brand and history, and to be part of it, it’s amazing. So, I’m really looking forward to starting together to being really close to fight for everything.

He then added: “I think the lion is the most representative animal for us, at the moment. I cannot see a better moment to have re-signed again, now with this lion on the Aprilia. I think we are a great team and I was contracted to try to win. That’s what I will try to do, to fight to the end, to win the championship, either me or Marco. But I think we can do it. So, I will fight.”

When news of Martin wanting to leave Aprilia broke, the initial question was how could this relationship possibly go any further with a rider who didn’t want to be there? Getting the rider to change that opinion is one thing. Rallying your team again to maintain their personal sacrifices to build a winning bike for said rider is even harder.

When Crash.net asked about this in Milan on Thursday, Rivola effectively said the success of the team outweighs everything.

“When we won in Argentina in 2022, the answer to the question ‘how did you make it’ was work and belief,” he said. “So, with these two words, I think you can summarise the only way that we know to get good results. And if everyone keeps those words in mind, I think it’s easier to achieve any kind of result.”

From Martin’s perspective, he noted: “I raced just seven races, so there are still some people in the team whose names I don’t even know! I have full trust in this team. I could see from Marco’s side that they were unbelievably strong. Also, we could work a lot with the engineers together with Marco, and I feel we can bring the bike to the top. I will give my maximum to do this.  The best moment to be together is now, and hopefully it will pay off in the season.”

Martin still has a big role to play

Aprilia’s ambitions for the 2026 season are immeasurably bigger than they had coming into last year. That pressure falls onto Marco Bezzecchi’s shoulders as the team’s point man now.

But both he and Aprilia feel Martin still has a big role to play in the 2026 championship chase. At this stage, nobody is pointing to the Spaniard as a title contender right now. He is still thousands of kilometres down on seat time and faced a winter of recovery.

Rivola urged Martin to exercise patience as he builds up his form on the RS-GP. But once he gets to that point, his value is not lost on anyone.

“I think that Jorge can help in many, many aspects,” Bezzecchi said, when asked by Crash what Martin can contribute in terms of development. “As you all know, Jorge is super-fast and is super-strong in races. He’s been struggling with his body with injuries, so he needs to take a bit of time to adapt to the bike and to understand it better and better.

“But I think Jorge can be super helpful in everything, because he has super good skills in every aspect. So, qualifying, for example, he’s super strong, but also sprints. But he also won a title already in MotoGP. He’s strong also in long races. I don’t really know only one thing [where he can help with], so hopefully he can feel better soon, and we can have good battles.”

It’s worth keeping in mind that the 2026 season is a contract year, with Rivola admitting on Thursday that rival teams are already “offering a lot of money to our riders”. Undoubtedly, Martin will still have one eye on the market, but he’s going to need to step up at the start of this year to boost his stock.

Ultimately, though, a fast Martin is a massive asset and one Aprilia will gain from regardless. As he warned: "As soon as I feel ready, I feel nobody can stop me..."