Marco Bezzecchi’s dominant Thai MotoGP victory may have grabbed the headlines, but Aprilia team-mate Jorge Martin was almost as happy with fourth place.

The former world champion, whose pre-season was restricted to just two days of testing due to follow-up surgery on last year’s injuries, ranked his Buriram race as a ‘9 out of 10’.

Martin’s highlights included battling with Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta before taking the chequered flag three-seconds from the Trackhouse Aprilia of Raul Fernandez.

Perhaps most importantly, after a 2025 wrecked by multiple injuries, Martin felt “the same as I used to be” for the first time on an Aprilia.

“I’m super happy,” Martin said. “After just two days of testing to be able to race here, improve my base and finish top five in both races and qualifying was nice.

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“At the beginning of the grand prix, I was feeling super good. I was fighting again with Marc and with Pedro. I felt again, I’m the same as I used to be.

“For sure, I need to keep improving my setup to catch Marco and the rest. But, for example, Raul wasn’t really far away from me, so the podium was possible.

“I can rate it maybe as a 9 out of 10 because I could be at that position, but I’m super happy to finish. That was my target, and to keep making steps forward.”

Martin went into the season-opener having struggled to complete even a Sprint race distance the weekend before.

“I’m much closer [to full fitness] than I expected, actually,” he said. “At the test, just making 12 laps was too much for me. [In the Sprint], 13 laps were OK. And today, 26, was tricky, but not more than usual.

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“It was more about understanding the bike. Every lap, I’m getting more and more adapted to the bike. I feel what my weak point is, where I need to keep improving.

“But overall, I worked really, really hard this weekend to understand these small points to improve.

“Today, I did another step. I think there will be other races where I will feel better, some where I will struggle. But overall, the bike is working really, really good for me.

“It’s just that I need to find my base so I can ride everywhere. Now I’m always adapting to the style of the bike.

“So as soon as I can attack as I want, I will make another small step, and this small step will bring me to the fight for victory.”

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Martin’s best weekend so far on an RS-GP has put him fourth in the early MotoGP standings, with Bezzecchi second to KTM’s Pedro Acosta after crashing from the lead of the Sprint.

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