Jorge Martin has made a strong start to the 2026 MotoGP season and only trails in the standings by four points after the opening three rounds.

While there was little doubting from within the Aprilia camp over the winter that the 2024 world champion would be fast on the RS-GP, the timeline for that seemed some way off when the marque unveiled its 2026 livery to the world in January.

And that timeline only seemed further away when Jorge Martin announced he would be missing the Sepang pre-season test after surgery in December for pre-existing injuries.

After three rounds of the 2026 campaign, there is little surprise in Aprilia and Marco Bezzecchi leading the standings. The Italian emerged as the leader Aprilia needed during a difficult 2025 behind the scenes, and has been richly rewarded for his efforts with the clear benchmark bike on the grid.

He has won three of three grands prix in 2026, taking his total streak to five in a row since Portugal last year. That team-mate Martin is his closest challenger is the big early surprise of the campaign, alongside Ducati’s underwhelming start.

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Martin had just two days of testing on the new RS-GP, a bike he raced only seven times in the entirety of 2025, before claiming a top five to start the year in Thailand. He then leapt onto the podium in Brazil in both the sprint and the grand prix, repeating this in the USA, only this time with a sublime ride to victory in the Saturday race.

Bezzecchi, by contrast, is having his hard work on Sundays undone by two self-inflicted crashes in the sprints in Thailand and the USA, and a fourth in Brazil. Martin, though yet to challenge for a win on a Sunday, has been Aprilia’s most consistent rider inside the first three rounds.

As such, he returns home to Spain and to Jerez this weekend trailing by just four points in the championship and on a run of form that suggests a Sunday victory is a matter of time.

Jerez hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Martin

In some ways, the unintended April break due to the Iran war has worked to Bezzecchi’s favour, as it has killed some of Martin’s momentum. And that has happened coming to a track that hasn’t been a friend to Martin in MotoGP.

He missed his first Spanish Grand Prix as a MotoGP rider due to injury in 2021, while in 2022 he was last after a crash. In 2023 he was fourth in both races, while a somewhat fortunate sprint win in 2024 was offset by a crash while in the lead battle in the grand prix.

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“After a great season start, it’s important to confirm those same sensations in Jerez as well,” he said looking ahead to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

“I can’t wait to get back on the track. This is my home race, and lots of my fans will be there. It will be a demanding weekend because it has never been one of my best tracks, but I really want to confirm my form and keep working.”

That said, Jerez also hasn’t been Bezzecchi’s friend in MotoGP, with the Italian scoring just one podium at the circuit, which came in 2024 when he was still with VR46 Ducati.

In some ways, then, the Spanish Grand Prix acts as something of a level playing field for both. Though Martin has already warned Ducati will be a bigger threat at Jerez, it’s hard to look beyond Aprilia as the pre-race favourites.

If that proves to be the case, Martin must use the Spanish Grand Prix as the launchpad for a sustained 2026 title challenge to try to shift the momentum away from team-mate Bezzecchi.

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