Sunday, November 12, 2017, and I should have taken a lot more notice, but I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts. Seven years ago, Jorge Martin won his first Grand Prix. Little did I realise watching the 19-year-old Spanish teenager win the final Moto3™ race of the 2017 season in Valencia, he would go on to achieve the ultimate accolade. It was my last day as a MotoGP™ commentator, and on reflection, it was Martin who gave me a true indication just what a great future lay ahead for the sport I loved.

I had got to know Jorge well in 2017 because of his collection of Tissot watches. I remember joking with him that he would soon have to open a jeweller’s shop. It was really about time that first Grand Prix victory came along, after hosting the qualifying press conferences where he was a frequent visitor. No less than nine times he arrived on Saturday afternoon with his mum to collect his watch after taking pole position. It was a massive relief when that first win finally arrived. It just opened the floodgates in 2018. He won seven more Grands Prix to capture the Moto3 World title.

Three years earlier in 2014 was the first time I came across Jorge. The sixteen-year-old won the Red Bull Rookies Cup. We did not realise at the time just what a wealth of young talent was being introduced on the World stage by this brilliant series. Who will forget? Jorge won the title from Joan Mir with a certain Toprak Razgatlioglu in sixth place. Mir went on to join a very elite club of riders who have won both the 125cc/Moto3 and 500cc/MotoGP World titles. Razgatlioglu brought BMW their first world title this year in a spectacular World Superbike season. Despite all this talent producing many World Champions, Jorge Martin is still the only Red Bull Rookies Cup winner to go on to become the MotoGP World Champion.

After that third place on Sunday, Jorge joined that very select group of riders who have won both those World titles. Joan Mir was the last of the five riders who have done the double in the 75-year history of Grand Prix racing. Jorge became the sixth on Sunday and just a glance at the others gives an idea of what he has achieved. Phil Read was the first to win the 125cc in 1968 and 500cc five years later in 1973. Spaniard Alex Criville was the second with the 125cc title in 1989 and the 500cc ten years later in 1999. The last two on the list will come as no great surprise. Valentino Rossi 125cc World Champion in 1997 and 500cc Champion in 2001. Marc Marquez followed his great rival with the 125cc title in 2010 and that first MotoGP title three years later in 2013.

Jorge’s amazing MotoGP career is well documented. Pole position and podium finish in just his second MotoGP race in 2021. A horrendous crash two races later in Portugal. He missed the next four Grands Prix but returned to win in Austria. Four podiums but no wins in 2022 and then pushing World Champion Pecco Bagnaia to the last grand prix of the season last year. This year 32 podium finishes with 16 apiece in Grands Prix and sprints. Finally, one more record to be smashed on Sunday. Jorge is the only rider in the modern MotoGP era to have beaten four former MotoGP World Champions on the grid to win the ultimate title in motorcycle racing.

I certainly took a lot more notice of his third place in Barcelona on Sunday than I did seven years ago. Sincere congratulations Jorge on such a spectacular season and that so-deserved world title. Good job you did not follow my advice and open that jeweller’s shop after all.