Martin braced for “really difficult, painful” MotoGP weekend with broken arm

Jorge Martin says he is pressing ahead with the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend despite expecting it to be “really difficult” and “really painful” to ride a MotoGP bike with a broken arm.

The factory Aprilia rider followed an intensive recovery programme with his physiotherapist in the wake of his crash at last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, which left him with a fracture to the radius of his right arm.

The Spaniard cleared his first hurdle on Thursday when he was declared fit by MotoGP’s doctor Angel Charte to take part in FP1. He will have to clear further medical tests on Friday before being allowed to race at the Sepang International Circuit.

Arriving at the track on Thursday with a brace around his right wrist, Martin admitted that he was still feeling far from fully recovered, revealing he cannot even brush his teeth with his right hand.

However, he insisted he had to at least attempt to ride this weekend to keep his title hopes alive against Ducati’s Marc Marquez.

“I feel good, for sure. I could be worse, I could be better,” he said.

“Let's see my condition, let's see my feeling, and then we will decide what to do next, if we continue with the GP or not.

“The only thing I know is that my wrist is broken. I will try to ride with a broken wrist, so for sure it will be really difficult, it will be really painful. 

“I will try for sure because I'm in the title fight. Otherwise I will be in my house with a cast for one month.  

"Let's see how much of a limitation it is for the riding style. For sure, it's the right hand, where the brake and the throttle are. It's a right-corner circuit. So overall it doesn't look great, but let's see tomorrow.

“I still cannot brush my teeth. I do it with my left hand, so I cannot do almost anything, but maybe I can ride.

“I'm not really optimistic, not too pessimistic, because after five days I'm here and I can ride. So it's already crazy. I did all the therapies I could during this week to try to be in the best possible condition, and now let's see how far I can go.”

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Martin remains Aprilia’s best hope of winning the riders’ title, but his crash in the Phillip Island sprint has left him trailing Marquez by 10 points in the standings.

Considering his condition, he could lose further ground to the Ducati rider in the standings, assuming he is cleared to race.

However, Martin insists he remains focused on his recovery instead of dwelling too much on the title fight.

“I just think about trying to ride. I don't think about the championship, I don't think about Sunday or Saturday.

“I think about tomorrow, let's try to ride, then I will move forward with my next step. At the moment, I don't really feel really confident to race, but everything can happen, and I feel a lot of improvement during the days. 

“So, maybe I don't feel well tomorrow, but maybe on Saturday I feel better. So the process of the bone is what it is, and I need to wait days.”

Marquez and Martin engaged in a fierce battle for victory at Phillip Island, with the pair trading the lead several times before the latter crashed out on lap 8.

The reigning champion suggested that Martin was faster than him in the sprint but that he was able to beat his countryman because Martin was “overriding” the bike.

However, the Aprilia rider disputed that claim, saying: “No, my bike was shaking a lot during the race. I don't know why, but particularly already in the warm-up lap, I felt something was moving a lot. I tried to ride in that way.

“I was enjoying the fight, and yeah it was a mistake because I was a bit more on the left and I crashed, but I don't feel I was overriding.”