Marco Bezzecchi
Jorge Martin believes he received more respect from people “inside” the MotoGP paddock than from fans after achieving a feat that he doubts will “happen again”.
The 27-year-old is one of the more popular and more successful riders on the 2025 MotoGP grid. He is a one-time premier class champion after winning the 2024 title, and also won the 2018 Moto3 title. The Spaniard has also won Grands Prix across Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP.
Martin won eight of his 67 lightweight class races, two of his 32 intermediate class races and currently has eight wins from 80 premier class races. The 2025 MotoGP season is so far just the second campaign in which Martin has not won a premier class race, after the 2022 term.
Aprilia are yet to see Martin win a MotoGP race since joining the Noale squad this year, with 2025 now a learning year after his injury problems. Martin missed seven of the first 11 races with a hemopneumothorax, having also already missed three races after fracturing his wrist.
Jorge Martin feels fans undervalue him becoming the first independent champion in the MotoGP era
Martin suffered multiple injuries during pre-season across the official Sepang Test and while training on a supermoto that stuttered his switch to Aprilia, having joined the Italian factory from Pramac in 2025. His hemopneumothorax further ensured he could not defend his title.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Jorge Martin from net worth to girlfriend
Last season saw Martin make history for Pramac as the first rider to win a premier class title in the MotoGP era with an independent team. Valentino Rossi was the last rider to secure a top-tier title with an independent team, with his 2001 500cc title for Nastro Azzurro Honda.
But despite the rarity of winning a MotoGP title with an independent team in Pramac, which Martin doubts will “ever happen again”, he thinks fans do not value the feat as much as they should. Martin beat factory Ducati rival Francesco Bagnaia by 10 points with the same GP24.
Martin told Motorsport.com: “It depends [on] who you ask. I think, inside the paddock, people could sense what it means to win with a satellite team. Twelve people against a factory of 200. In general, people don’t realise how difficult it is.
“Honestly, I don’t think it will ever happen again. You may think you have the same technical material, but the best engines and the best parts go to the factory team, obviously, because it’s the factory rider, with all the support behind him.
“There’s no comparison with a private team. Definitely, from the outside, it wasn’t valued, and people don’t realise how hard it was to achieve.”
Valentino Rossi in 2001 was the last rider to win a premier class title for an independent team before Jorge Martin
While Rossi won the 2001 500cc title with an independent team in Nastro Azzurro Honda, it is hard to compare the Italian’s triumph with Martin becoming the first rider to win a title in the MotoGP era for an independent team while riding a Ducati for Pramac in the 2024 term.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Valentino Rossi from stats to net worth
MotoGP has moved on massively over the past two decades from the era when Rossi won a premier class title for an independent team. As Martin also notes, while Ducati gave Pramac equal machinery to what Bagnaia had in 2024, factory and satellite bikes are rarely identical.
Bagnaia also won 11 of the 20 Grands Prix last year, along with reaching 16 podiums, scoring six pole positions and winning seven Sprint Races for the factory Ducati team. Yet Martin got the title through his consistency, having only won three Grands Prix among his 16 podiums.
It was a truly historic feat for Martin to win the 2024 MotoGP title with Pramac and become the first modern-era champion with an independent team. It took 23 seasons for a rider to achieve the feat in the MotoGP era, and the 2027 rules could reset the chances of a repeat.
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