Jorge Martin's Brazil MotoGP practice surprise hints at major Aprilia step

Jorge Martin surprised himself with the pace he had in mixed conditions on Friday at the Brazilian MotoGP, conditions in which he usually expects to struggle.

Martin’s confidence was first destroyed on the Aprilia at the Sepang test in 2025 when he crashed on the first day after not even 20 laps. Another crash in Qatar last year left him with significant injuries, including to his lungs, that made Martin wonder whether he might ever recover.

Ultimately, 2025 was a season in which Martin was never able build momentum or adapt himself to the Aprilia, as well as one in which he hurt himself almost every time he crashed and was almost never able to ride without pain.

2026’s preseason saw Martin at least get one test under his belt in Thailand, and the race there a week later put the 2024 MotoGP champion back in the podium battle. The mental improvements the five days of riding in Thailand brought to Martin became evident on Friday at the second round of 2026 in Brazil, where conditions were inconsistent and in between wet and dry for much of the day. 

Yet, despite the unpredictable grip levels, Martin was consistently fast and regularly featured at the top of the times in both sessions, ultimately ending Practice in the top-five.

“In the end it's a matter of feelings,” Jorge Martin said after Practice in Goiania, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“If you go out and you're more or less fine, then you're getting better, right? If you find that you can't warm up the rubber, that in the patches you have more scares, then you don't [relax], and it's a loop in which you don't find confidence. 

“So nothing, I focus on myself, on doing the best I can. 

“I'm happy both in the morning, because it was mixed conditions with wet tyres, which I usually go quite badly, and then with dry tyres. 

“The important thing is to always be competitive and be in the top five."

Martin’s performance in the afternoon put him fourth, guaranteeing him a Q2 spot for qualifying in what he maintained were “complicated” conditions where confidence was necessary in order to be fast.

“It's always important to be in Q2, obviously,” the Aprilia Racing rider said, “but today it was much more complicated, because the track situation was difficult. It was a lot of confidence with the bike from the start, and I had it. 

“So every day that I'm on the Aprilia I get a little closer to where I want to go, and I'm understanding the bike more, what it needs. 

“It was also quite risky because the track was very, very bad and all of us who made the [top-10] had to gamble.”

Martin added that the patchy conditions that were present on Friday in Brazil were the most difficult part of the day, more than trying to learn the track.

“I think that patches of humidity are much more complicated,” he said. “I come, I prepare for the race, and more or less I already knew where to go. 

“But of course, when there are patches it changes completely. We have made lines that are not natural at all, you have to force very strange lines, and that is the most difficult thing.

“Apart from the scares, having to warm up the rubber well, being more on the limit at all times, and it's easier to make a mistake.”