Neil Hodgson thinks it’s a ‘shame’ that Aprilia have not done one thing after Jorge Martin’s latest injury

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Jorge Martin faces two to three months out of action after suffering a pneumothorax on his return from injury and also debut for Aprilia Racing at the Grand Prix of Qatar.

The reigning MotoGP riders’ champion has only competed at one round of the 2025 season so far amid an injury-hit start to his Aprilia career. Martin joined the Italian manufacturer to start the next chapter of his career after failing to get a factory Ducati promotion at Pramac.

Yet Aprilia have so far had to rely on test rider Lorenzo Savadori to stand in for Martin and to share the workload alongside Marco Bezzecchi in their works fold. Martin fractured his right hand and left foot at the Sepang Test, before breaking his left hand training on a Supermoto.

Surgery after his highside at Sepang was not due to rule Martin out of action, but his second highside proved problematic. Martin suffered complex fractures to his left hand and did not race for Aprilia before the Qatar GP, where he crashed on Lap 14/22 whilst not in the points.

Martin was also hit by VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio while he tumbled over the kerbs at Lusail. He sustained a pneumothorax, which was later upgraded to a hemopneumothorax in his right lung, and 11 broken ribs. Martin will only fly home to Spain from Doha on Saturday.

Neil Hodgson thinks it’s ‘a shame’ Aprilia did not sign a better Jorge Martin replacement than Lorenzo Savadori

Now that he is allowed to fly home, six days after being discharged from the Hamad General Hospital in Doha, Aprilia expect a better timeline for Martin’s return soon. But he is unlikely to feature again before at least the Grand Prix of Italy on June 20-22, in a best-case scenario.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend

So, 2003 World Superbikes champion Neil Hodgson feels it is ‘a shame’ that Aprilia could not get a better replacement for Martin while he recovers from his injury than Savadori. The 32-year-old is Aprilia’s test rider, but was 2.768s off the pace in FP1 for the Grand Prix of Spain.

Hodgson said on TNT Sports 2 (25/4, 10:25): “Obviously, it’s a shame about Jorge Martin. It’s also a little bit of a shame that the test rider, Lorenzo Savadori, is not quite up to speed.

“So, he’s obviously doing a lot of races, but right now he’s three seconds off the pace. That’s OK if you’re just going to be the test rider. It’s just a shame that they couldn’t get someone to come in and have four or five rounds.”

Jorge Martin will fly home from Qatar this Saturday, six days after being discharged from hospital

Martin flying home from Doha – 11 days after his crash in the Qatar GP and six days on from being discharged from hospital – will let the Spaniard start to recover in his own setting. But Aleix Espargaro feels Martin faces a ‘difficult’ mental blow after getting injured on his return.

It also leaves Bezzecchi to largely carry the burden of scoring Aprilia points until Martin is fit enough to return from his latest injury absence. Savadori also stood in for the 27-year-old at the start of the 2025 MotoGP season, but only has one point ahead of Sunday’s Spanish GP.

Savadori also came just 20th in the Grand Prix of Thailand, withdrew from the Grand Prix of Argentina after injuring his left shoulder during Q1 and was only 15th in the Grand Prix of the Americas. Bezzecchi came P6 with Trackhouse rookie Ai Ogura also finishing in P9 at COTA.

A massive 31.860 seconds and 34.159s also split works Aprilia rider Bezzecchi and test rider Savadori in the Thai and Americas Grands Prix. It could be a similar story at the Spanish GP if FP1 is anything to go by with Savadori 1.663s slower than Bezzecchi to finish in P13 and P23.