“Martinator is back… maybe”. The words of Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) after the reigning MotoGP World Champion delivered a Champion’s performance (and then some) in Hungary to collect his best result of what’s been a well-documented nightmare opening half to 2025.

P4 from anywhere on the grid would have been a good result for Martin at Balaton Park. Having missed pre-season, Martin then injured himself again and subsequently missed the opening three rounds. Then, the crash in Qatar led to the #1 having to sit out the next seven Grands Prix. Essentially, until Brno, he’d barely got to grips with his new toy. So, returning to the point above, earning P4 from P16 on the grid was simply colossal for a rider who, compared to his rivals this season, lacks thousands of kilometres of bike time.

“Yeah, I delivered today,” said Martin when speaking to the media after his Sunday heroics at Balaton Park. He isn’t wrong.

“So I didn't know what to expect from today. Actually starting from 16th wasn't the best for starting the race. But I had my strategy for the first two corners quite clear, I wanted to go on the outside. I was too on the outside, because the other riders were coming, so I was braking on the kerb, but still I was able to overtake two or three in the corner, then maybe two more in the second and third corner,” continued Martin.

“Then two more at Turn 5, one more at Turn 9. So I was always overtaking. And this was like the first part of the race, the first three laps, and the second part, I was able to set a really, really strong pace. I was feeling more and more confident with the bike. For sure I still miss a bit of knowing how the bike reacts when I brake really, really hard. Because two or three times I was wide at Turn 5, almost out of the track. And then I lost maybe one second each time.

“So I need to understand that. I'm still in my learning process. Even on the grid I was still changing the handlebars, so I need a bit more of time. But giving my 100%, today was a fourth, which is a good result. Most of that for the team, to keep the motivation, to keep believing, and for me personally, the result is that I improved my feeling, I improved my base setup, and I can be more ready for the next race.”

And it’s not just been the injuries. The dark cloud surrounding Martin’s future with Aprilia marred his comeback at Brno and took a lot of the limelight and focus away from simply having the reigning champ return to racing. Martin cut an emotional and frustrated figure when he sat in front of the press on Thursday at Brno, when he had to answer plenty of questions about what had unfolded off track in the months while he was recovering.

Having now sorted that out with Aprilia, those murky waters have evaporated and today, Martin looks like a new rider. No more constant questions about his future. No more injury woes. No more doubts. Simply getting on with the task in hand: racing and building confidence on the RS-GP. And that confidence is returning at a rapid rate of knots. Of course it is, he’s a MotoGP World Champion.

“I think today I feel like I am back, personally,” commented Martin on Sunday. “I could set a strong pace for 26 laps, which is not easy, on a tricky track. And for sure I still need time with the bike. I am the same Martinator as last year. The bike is much better than last year, so it's just a matter of time before we can put everything together and we can fight for victories.”

Martin’s mindset and appetite have also shifted, as he revealed post-race too. In the last two years in MotoGP, the only thing that has mattered is winning. At Prima Pramac, he had all the tools to fight for the title with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), and in 2024, that dream was realised.

Now, though, a different challenge has arrived on Martin’s path. The Aprilia is capable of winning and challenging for podiums on a regular basis. We’ve seen that with Marco Bezzecchi. But it’s not yet the complete package that’s needed to fully launch a title tilt, especially against the current Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team).

“Last year I had the hunger for winning the title, and that was great. But now, thinking a bit about my history, the challenge to bring Aprilia to winning gives me much more motivation and enjoyment than just winning races. So the day I win with Aprilia will be fantastic, it will be super. I hope we will arrive,” said a candid Martin.

And it will arrive. When? We don’t know. But you can’t keep a World Champion down for long, and Martin is now looking like the rider we’ve come accustomed to seeing in years gone by. Incredibly fast. And with an on-song Aprilia RS-GP underneath him, plus an in-form teammate on the other side of the box, motivation and morale are sky high in the Noale camp. That's not something we've been able to say for a lot of this season. 

Martinator is back… maybe. He’s not wrong. We’re fairly sure that “maybe” can be wiped off that sentence very soon, because P16 to P4 signals Martin is absolutely back. And boy, aren’t we pleased to see it.