Written by Isha Reshmi Mohan, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
The 2024 MotoGP season saw a brilliant championship battle between then-reigning champion Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia and Jorge Martín, with the latter coming out on top in a fight that went right down to the final weekend of the season at Barcelona.
With the dust settled and the clock ticking down towards the 2025 MotoGP campaign, let’s relive Jorge Martín’s campaign which saw him crowned the 2024 MotoGP champion.
By winning the coveted world championship, the former Pramac racer also became the first independent rider to win the championship, let’s take a look back into how he bagged the title after having lost his chance last season.
Starting 2024 strong
Martín secured his first win of the season at the Portuguese Grand Prix, and took full advantage of 2023 champion Bagnaia’s mechanical issues and multiple DNFs, consistently securing wins or podium finishes.
With Martín’s consistent wins and podium finishes, the consecutive wins from Bagnaia didn't matter as much, since Martín had a decent cushion to keep him off from the rest.
The Rematch
At the Thailand GP, Bagnaia began closing the gap to Jorge Martín, with only 17 points between the two, marking the start of "The Rematch" campaign in reference to the 2023 season, during which the two riders had fiercely competed.
Amid the pressure, countless campaigns and photoshoots centered on "The Rematch," all eyes were on Pecco.
He started the penultimate weekend of the year in Malaysia strongly, taking pole position for the sprint race. However, it all came crashing down as he slipped up in the third lap.
Pecco had been expected to finish at least in second place, if not contend for the win. But with his tyres failing him, he couldn't complete the sprint, allowing Martin to secure the victory and gain a crucial 12-point advantage.
Bagnaia’s victory in Malaysia, though impressive, wasn’t enough to close the gap, as he remained at least 24 points behind Martin heading into the final race in Spain.
The Italian rider kept the excitement alive a little longer by setting the fastest laps in free practice and winning the final sprint race of the season, narrowing the gap to the leader to 19 points.
All Martín needed was a Top 10 finish, and he delivered by securing third place, just behind the 2025 Ducati duo of Pecco and Marc Marquez. He ended the season with a 10-point lead over his rival, bursting into tears as he crossed the finish line.
Every point counts
With three race wins at the Portugal, France, and Indonesia Grands Prix, and seven sprint victories, he consistently racked up points by finishing on the podium a record-breaking 16 times, a record he shares with Pecco.
Even though the Ducati factory rider suffered from plenty of mechanical issues and also mistakes made by himself that led to crashes in Portugal, Spain, Aragon and the sprint races in France, Barcelona, Britain and Malaysia.
On the other hand, Martín suffered three major crashes from the front at the Jerez and Sachsenring Grands Prix, as well as during the Mandalika sprint.
In contrast, Bagnaia’s crashes mostly occurred when he wasn’t leading. With this being put into place, it wouldn't be entirely fair to claim Martín won because of Pecco’s mistakes, but Bagnaia’s failure to capitalise on Martín’s setbacks did help widen the gap between the two.
Aprilia Testing
After the end of the season at the Solidarity GP, the riders made their switches to their new teams which included Martín leaving Pramac Ducati to join the Aprilia factory team for the Barcelona post season test.
Martín has reportedly tested the 2024 and 2025 spec RS-GPs and completed 77 laps but also suffered a small crash during the session.
There isn’t a lot of input from Martín himself due to contractual reasons as per sources, but there were inputs from Sterlacchini who took over as the technical director for the session.
“I think that the fact that we have Jorge, who is coming from the world title bike and he is a world title rider, is a big opportunity because we have a reference and we can understand clearly more the aspects that we have to concentrate on,” he said.
With this just being the start to Martín’s time with Aprilia, there will be a lot more to see from the Sepang and Buriram pre-season test that will kick off in February before the season opener on 28th February at Thailand.
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