Jorge Martin Joins Aprilia After Ducati MotoGP Rejection

Jorge Martin will leave Ducati and join Aprilia for the 2025 MotoGP season, leaving Ducati who he began his MotoGP career with.

Martin’s move was confirmed by Aprilia this evening (Monday 3 June), the day after the Italian Grand Prix, which Martin finished third behind Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, and ahead of Marc Marquez.

On signing Martin, Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said: “A path of unstoppable growth, Jorge is a step towards achieving the goal that we are all looking for with great hunger at Aprilia Racing. Thanks to Dr. Michele Colaninno (Piaggio Group CEO) for this opportunity, we spoke last night and without wasting time we decided."

Martin had joined MotoGP in 2021 with Pramac Ducati, and has remained with the team since, challenging for the title against Bagnaia in 2023.

Pramac team manager Gino Borsoi more or less confirmed that Martin would leave the satellite Ducati squad at the end of the season as the #89 believes he is deserving of a factory ride.

Martin’s preference on manufacturer is understood to have been Ducati, which has been the dominant manufacturer in MotoGP for the past two years, the brand that picked him up when KTM couldn’t find space for him, and the brand that he has spent his entire premier class career with so far. 

Martin was in the frame for the second factory seat at Ducati in for the 2023 season, but Enea Bastianini was chosen over him. Despite challenging for the title last season, Ducati decided to leave its riders in order, as Bastianini already had a factory contract for 2024.

Martin’s attention then turned to getting the second factory seat in 2025, and Autosport today reported that Martin was told between the Catalan Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix that he would have the second seat in the Ducati Lenovo Team next year.

However, Ducati’s conviction on this decision was dependent on Marc Marquez accepting a deal that would put him in the Pramac team with a factory-spec Desmosedici GP25 for next season. Marquez said before the Italian Grand Prix that Pramac was not an option for him in an interview with Gazzetto Dello Sport. 

It had been though that Marquez wanted either the seat alongside Bagnaia, or to remain in his current Gresini team but with factory-spec machinery which would require commitment from Ducati to build and field a fifth factory bike next year.

Over the weekend, Ducati Corse Sporting Director Mauro Grassilli told MotoGP.com that the Italian brand was not considering running a fifth GP25.

The result of this was that, according to Autosport, Marquez told Ducati that he would only accept the seat in the factory team alongside Bagnaia, who has already signe a new two-year deal seeing him through 2026 with Ducati back before the start of the season, or he would leave for another manufacturer.

Ducati, then, had to decide between Martin and Marquez. Martin’s signing with Aprilia - which will lose Aleix Espargaro at the end of this season as he retires - indicates Ducati chose the latter.

Find all the latest MotoGP news on Visordown.