On March 24, MotoGP doctor Angel Charte will meet with Jorge Martin in Barcelona – Then it will be evaluated whether a comeback at the race in Austin at the end of March is possible
Jorge Martin had to watch the season opener in Thailand from his sofa at home. At least the reigning MotoGP world champion saw on TV that the Aprilia RS-GP was competitive in the hands of Ai Ogura. This week Martin also gave a small update.
The bandages from the operations had disappeared. Martin wrote “work in progress”, which means that work on his return is ongoing. However, a comeback at the second race of the season in Argentina is out of the question.
“There is no news, the recovery is progressing,” MotoGP doctor Angel Charte told Motorsport.com Spain.
He could return at the earliest at the end of March at the US Grand Prix. Before that, examinations will be carried out in Spain. However, a comeback in Austin is currently considered rather unlikely, because the healing of the scaphoid fracture in his left hand is taking time.
“We are dealing with an injury that would require a normal person to undergo three months of rehabilitation,” Charte emphasizes the seriousness of the injury. “The fracture of the scaphoid bone takes time because it is a very delicate bone.”
“We have spoken to Jorge and told him that he will not travel to Argentina. We will evaluate the possibility of attending in Austin a few days before the Grand Prix. But if the bone has not healed, he will not be able to travel.”
What the current plan is
The current plan is for Charte and Martin to meet in Barcelona on March 24 and then evaluate the situation. March 24 is the Monday of the race week of the Grand Prix in the USA. Until then, it remains to be seen what information will be available regarding the recovery.
However, there is already good news from Charte: “The news about Jorge is good, the pain has significantly decreased. As he himself has shown on his social networks, he has been able to start moving around at home.”
Bad luck has dogged Martin since the beginning of the year. The new Aprilia rider crashed twice on the first day of the winter test in Sepang (February 5). In the second crash, he suffered a double fracture of the fifth metacarpal bone of his right hand.
He also suffered fractures of the third, fourth and fifth metacarpal bones of his left foot. Two days later, the Spaniard underwent surgery on his hand and missed the remaining winter tests. Fortunately, his recovery progressed well.
Martin’s comeback at the season opener in Thailand had already been confirmed. However, another unfortunate incident befell the world champion once again. On February 24, one day before his departure for Buriram, Martin visited a karting track.
He wanted to do a few laps on a supermoto bike to test his right hand. In cool temperatures, he highsided. Martin told Aprilia Motorsport Director Massimo Rivola in an initial reaction over the phone that he was “in pieces”.
This time Martin had injured his left hand. He suffered a displaced fracture of the distal radius, a fracture of the scaphoid bone and a fracture of the pyramidal carpal bone. In addition, he suffered a non-displaced heel bone fracture on his left foot.
This led to Martin having to undergo further surgery on February 25 and missing the start of the season. During Martin’s injury-enforced absence, Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori will take over his position.
