Marco Bezzecchi
Aprilia rider Jorge Martin remains in hospital in Doha after his pneumothorax injury sustained in the Grand Prix of Qatar has been upgraded into a hemopneumothorax.
The 27-year-old was making his 2025 MotoGP season debut at the Qatar GP last week after missing the opening three rounds. But Martin now faces a further two to three months out of action after picking up extensive injuries after he was hit by Fabio Di Giannantonio in Qatar.
Di Giannantonio was helpless to avoid hitting Martin when the Aprilia rider fell on Lap 14/22 of the Qatar GP. Martin was taken to the Hamad General Hospital – where he was diagnosed with 11 broken ribs and pneumothorax, which has been upgraded to a hemopneumothorax.
Aleix Espargaro feels Jorge Martin faces a ‘very difficult’ mental blow’ after his Qatar Grand Prix crash
Martin’s upgraded diagnosis of a hemopneumothorax means the Spaniard has blood as well as air in his chest cavity. The defending MotoGP riders’ champion also requires artificial lung drainage on the right side and must spend at least two weeks in hospital before going home.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
Honda test rider Aleix Espargaro is a close friend of Martin and says he did not ‘deserve’ the Qatar GP crash ‘for anything in the world’. As it was even his return from complex fractures to Martin’s left hand, Espargaro also believes the mental blow ‘above all’ will be ‘very difficult’.
“He’s really screwed,” Espargaro has told Marca. “The truth is, despite obviously being out of danger, but being out of danger, he’s really in a serious condition. He’s still in the ICU in Qatar and has several days left.
“I think that on a physical level it’s a very, very tough injury. But above all on a mental level, it’s a very difficult blow to deal with because after two injuries in a row, from missing the start of the championship to this. He didn’t deserve it for anything in the world.
“I’m going to try to be by his side this summer, so he can disconnect and heal well because, at the end of the day, he’s a person, a very young guy, and the truth is that it’s been very hard for everyone.”
What happened to Jorge Martin at the Qatar Grand Prix?
Martin was making his 2025 MotoGP season debut at last week’s Qatar GP when the Aprilia ace crashed on Lap 14/22 whilst fighting outside of the points-paying positions. VR46 rider Di Giannantonio was also directly behind Martin on the track and could not avoid hitting him.
Aprilia had not been able to field their new recruit in Thailand, Argentina or America, having signed Martin from Pramac for 2025, owing to the Spaniard crashing at the Sepang Test and then amid a private test before the season-opener at Buriram which resulted in vast injuries.
A highside at Turn 2 in Sepang saw Martin suffer a single fracture on his right hand as well as multiple fractures on his left foot. He required surgery in on both his hand and foot, and was due to race in Thailand before he crashed on a Supermoto which obliged another operation.
Martin crashing whilst training on a Supermoto bike saw the Madrid native suffer a complex fracture of the radius as well as to some carpal bones on the left-hand side and an ipsilateral calcaneal fracture. He was, finally, declared fit to race in Qatar before Martin crashed, again.
MotoGP chief doctor Angel Charte immediately felt Martin’s Qatar GP crash was ‘strange’ as he crouched on the track awaiting assistance from the marshals. But as he could crouch and did not lie stricken on the ground, race control did not red flag the race despite his incident.
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