Jorge Martin has issued a statement to confirm the reigning MotoGP riders’ champion has triggered the exit clause in his contract for Aprilia as he wants to leave after 2025.
The 27-year-old only moved to the Noale factory ahead of the 2025 MotoGP season after he missed out to Marc Marquez on a factory Ducati bike. Aprilia have also only seen Martin ride the RS-GP25 at just one round, having missed six of the first seven due to two injury lay-offs.
Yet Martin has tracked Aprilia’s performances during his injury lay-offs and does not feel the Italian factory’s bike is at the standards they promised when negotiating his contract. Marco Bezzecchi won the British Grand Prix last Sunday, but Silverstone has regularly suited Aprilia.
Aprilia’s first win this season also came after Martin met the team at Le Mans to confirm his plan to trigger the exit clause in his contract. The Spaniard had to be in the top three of the standings after the French Grand Prix for the clause to become invalid, but he has no points.
Jorge Martin confirmed he’s triggered the exit clause as he feels ‘deceived’ by Aprilia
Aprilia, however, broke their silence on Martin’s desire to leave at Silverstone and stood firm in their stance that he will honour the two-year contract they signed last June. Aprilia do not believe Martin’s exit clause is valid given he has not been able to race due to injury this year.
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Yet Martin released his own statement this Thursday essentially responding to Aprilia’s last week. The Madrid native has sought to not only confirm the existence of the release clause in his contract, but declare that Martin only signed for Aprilia if they added a release clause.
Martin explained with his statement: “When we signed, I agreed with Aprilia that if certain conditions weren’t met, I would reserve the right to decide my future for 2026. This was an essential condition for me to accept the contract proposal they offered me at the time…
“Faced with the situation of having to make a decision on a date that is established by [the] contract, I have decided to exercise my right to release myself for the 2026 season.”
Now, Motorsport.com reports that Martin decided to issue his statement to ‘leave no doubt’ about the existence of his exit clause and that he only agreed to sign a two-year contract for Aprilia if it were added. Martin also believes his chance to leave Aprilia hinges on credibility.
Another factor behind the 2024 MotoGP champion’s decision to announce he has triggered the exit clause is that Martin feels ‘deceived’ by Aprilia. He does not like that Aprilia not only refuse to honour it, but also refuse to publicly confirm its existence in his two-year contract.
Jorge Martin fears Aprilia’s stance will put rival teams like Honda off making him an offer
Martin hopes he can amicably resolve his dispute with Aprilia and be able to leave the Noale team at the end of this year without the matter dragging on or potentially going to court. He fears a protracted dispute will put rival MotoGP teams off making him an offer for next year.
Aprilia urged their rival manufacturers not to make Martin an offer as he is under contract in 2026 with their statement issued at Silverstone. Honda are willing to double Martin’s Aprilia salary, but the Japanese brand will not formalise their offer until he is guaranteed to be free.
