MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

MotoGP is back at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, so what better way to start than with news about Austin, Texas? The reigning world champion isn't in Argentina, and wasn't scheduled to be in the pre-event press conference, but he called in anyway, phoning in from his car. His recovery from the scaphoid injury he suffered in a training crash wasn't proceeding as quickly as he hoped, he said, and he wouldn't be able to ride at the Grand Prix Of The Americas in Austin, Texas. And probably not in Qatar either.

"I'm really suffering," Martin said. "It's not my moment, I'm struggling to recover as fast as I would like." He would skip Austin and maybe also Qatar, and would really like to test himself before he returned to racing. "I would like to make some kind of test before coming back to racing, because I'm not feeling really good. And I know Massimo [Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO] is also working on that, let's see if we can make it possible."

A test is going to be hard. Martin is able to ride a production bike, but Aprilia is in category C as far as concessions are concerned. That means no testing for contracted riders (i.e. riders on the official MotoGP entry list for 2025) outside of official IRTA tests. The first IRTA test is at Jerez. And if Martin is going to ride at the test in Jerez, he might as well try to ride at the weekend.

Patience is a virtue

It is greatly to both Jorge Martin's and Aprilia's credit that they are waiting until he is fit before he attempts to return. In the ranking of career-ending injuries, scaphoids come in at number 2, just behind shoulders. Scaphoids take a long time to heal, because of the lack of blood flow in the bone. And if you stress it too early - such as by attempting to wrestle a MotoGP bike down from 355 km/h to a speed capable of taking a slow left hander - you risk damaging it so much you never really recover the strength needed to race at the highest level. Or take extreme measures, such as having an entire row of bones in your hand removed to continue racing, like Nicky Hayden did.

Marc Márquez, whose experience with his right arm gives him a visceral understanding of the issues at stake, backed Martin's decision. "I think it’s a smart decision that he will not be in Austin, because it's a very tricky circuit for the physical condition. But keep going Jorge, from one day to another you will feel better and we’re waiting for you here in the race track."

Leaving aside the obvious downsides - Jorge Martin losing out on time to adapt to the bike, Aprilia losing out on the experience and PR value of the world champion on their bike - there are benefits to taking this approach. Martin's title defense is over, removing all of the pressure from his shoulders. When he comes back, he can focus on adapting to the bike, and finding where it needs to be improved if he is to launch a title assault in 2026. For Aprilia, a healthy world champion gives them a better return on their investment.

Walking wounded

For those that would rush back early, the paddock has two walking warnings. Marc Márquez may be riding high, but he lost four years to the stupidity of trying to ride a few days after surgery to plate the right humerus he broke at Jerez in 2020. And Alex Rins continues to limp round the MotoGP paddock, nearly two years after breaking his right leg.

After Buriram, Rins saw a doctor in Italy who gave him carbon fiber leg brace to help support his leg. But the Monster Energy Yamaha rider has issues walking, and can't push is own luggage across a hotel lobby. What Rins should have done is taken the time to come back from his 2023 injury, get surgery done to fix the problem correctly, and take the time needed to recover enough and be strong enough to race and to train. But the primal urge of an athlete to rush back from injury overtook common sense, and leaves Rins struggling.

Rins says that the injury doesn't affect him while riding. And the Spaniard has been fast enough to book some promising results. But it is hard not to watch Rins limping down a corridor and feel that he might have been even faster if he had allowed his leg to heal. At the very least, he would be able to walk a little more easily.

Rins, Márquez, Martin are a sobering reminder that these riders really do put their bodies on the line for our entertainment and their own ambition. It remains remarkable just how often they get away with it.

Surface tension

Bringing the subject back to Termas de Rio Hondo, there was some disagreement over the state of the track. The facilities, at least, are in very good condition, a huge difference from 2023 when the teams arrived to offices that were filthy, garages with random garbage stored in them, and a filthy track. The offices are spotless, the facilities spic and span, and the track looks a lot cleaner than it has been previously, as the circuit has tried to prepare the surface in a smarter way.

On the Gear Up pre-show ahead of the MotoGP press conference, Dorna reporter Jack Appleyard said that FIM Chief Steward Simon Crafar had been relatively impressed with the state of the track, finding it in much better order than in previous years. In the press conference, both Márquez brothers agreed. "I was running this morning and it looks OK," Marc Márquez said.

Pecco Bagnaia disagreed. He had walked the track, and so got a closer look at the track condition. "Walking I saw more clearly how muddy it is," he told the press conference.

But track conditions are the same for everyone, and require a specific approach. FP1 will be used to clean the track, then a first, cautious time attack in timed practice on Friday afternoon. The track is better on Saturday, and only really reaches peak grip on Sunday afternoon during the MotoGP race.

Adapting to the conditions

"One of the main characteristics of this GP is that during the GP, the track is improving and changing, the grip of the track," Marc Márquez said. "Then you need to adapt your riding style, you need to adapt your setup, and try to understand where the limit is."

Changing conditions mean changing priorities, Pecco Bagnaia said. "It will not be an easy weekend for anybody, because like Marc said, the track will improve session by session and the peak performance will be during the Sunday race. We just need to be prepared, just need to understand that you can just try to adapt to the track and not to the bike, because here it's improving every session."

In a sense, that makes the job easier, because there is less to be gained from trying to optimize the setup from the bike when the track keeps changing. Better to focus on what you can control, on your riding and understanding the grip of the track, rather than trying to hit a moving target for setup.

Rubber soul

Argentina was the first opportunity to hear from the riders about what they thought about Pirelli taking over from Michelin as official tire supplier in MotoGP. Predictably, and exactly as had happened when Bridgestone announced they were leaving MotoGP, riders were full of praise for the departing supplier.

"We need to say thanks to Michelin, because they developed the tires in a very good way and they are performing right now in a very good way," Marc Marquez said in the press conference. Pecco Bagnaia agreed, despite having previously criticized Michelin on multiple occasions. "I'm sure that Pirelli will do a great job, to develop a tire that will suit well to our bikes. Michelin did it in a fantastic way, and the performance right now is incredible."

Luca Marini concurred. "I think that Michelin did an amazing job in these, especially last couple of years, they improved a lot." And that was the general feeling across pretty much everyone who was asked about the tires.

But the riders were optimistic about Pirelli coming in. They had seen the huge leap in lap times in Moto2, and how the tires had performed last season. But it certainly won't be easy, Pedro Acosta warned. "I don’t think it will be easy for them to understand what it going on in MotoGP, because they have a lot of experience in Superbike and this helps for the smaller classes but MotoGP is like another sport," the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider said.

All change

There was a general sense of excitement at the thought of a new tire supplier coming into shake everything up. "This is I think the biggest change compared to all the other technical regulations," Luca Marini said. "Will be fun. Make something more spicy, I think, with this change." Honda HRC Castrol teammate Joan Mir felt much the same. "I'm happy because I think that change is good, is positive. That will bring some fresh air to everyone."

Pramac Yamaha's Miguel Oliveira saw opportunity. "Of all the technical changes you can do to a bike, to change tire supplier is the biggest by far of them all, and it's actually the only thing that can reset a little bit let's say the balance we have right now. The dominance," the Portuguese rider said. "And probably will get closer together. Some changes and whatever, but I think it's the only thing that can actually zero everyone."

Though Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales also did one season in MotoGP on Bridgestone tires, Marc Márquez is the only rider with real experience of changing tire brands. Michelin arrived in Márquez' fourth season in MotoGP, after he had already won two titles on Japanese rubber.

A veteran speaks

That experience, of switching from Bridgestone to Michelin, had not made him a fan of the entire process. "I don't like to change," Márquez said, before reassuring that it had nothing to do with Pirelli as such. "Sure Pirelli will be good tires, but always when you change it's a kind of adaptation from the manufacturer to the tires, the riding style to the tires."

That adaptation process is always painful and difficult. "You remember when Michelin arrived here after Bridgestone, we had strange crashes that the riders didn't understand why we crashed. And as a rider, my personal opinion, I don't like it. But it's the decision of the championship."

It is one of those changes that is out of the hands of the riders. For now, two more years with Michelin remain. "It's good to have an Italian brand, of course," Marco Bezzecchi (Italian rider on an Italian bike) said. "But at the moment I would like to concentrate on these remaining two seasons with Michelin, that I have a good relationship with, and I think they made a very good job through all these seasons. So we will try to finish our collaboration in the best way possible."

First, MotoGP has to finish up with Michelin. Part of that is to start testing the 2027 bikes, and the 2027 Pirelli tires, but that won't happen until next season. 2026 is still colored Michelin yellow and blue. There is a lot of racing left to do. Starting on Friday.

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