{"id":662648,"date":"2026-05-10T22:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662648\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T22:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T22:33:12","slug":"jorge-martin-wins-his-first-aprilia-grand-prix-at-french-motogp-motorsports-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/662648\/","title":{"rendered":"Jorge Martin wins his first Aprilia Grand Prix at French MotoGP | Motorsports News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-MotoGP world champion is now only a single point behind Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi in the riders\u2019 standings.<\/p>\n

Published On 10 May 202610 May 2026<\/p>\n

Jorge Martin charged from seventh on the grid to win the French Grand Prix on Sunday, claiming his first MotoGP victory in 588 days, while moving within striking distance of his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi in the championship battle.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard, who endured a forgettable 2025 season plagued by crashes and injuries, overtook race leader Bezzecchi with three laps remaining to secure his first win since winning the 2024 title.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. I still can\u2019t say it enough times, because I\u2019m so, so grateful to all the fans,\u201d an emotional Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for sure I have to remember my family, my team, my girlfriend, my dog \u2013 all the people that were with me all this time. I don\u2019t have words!\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory moved Martin to within one point of championship leader Bezzecchi after five rounds.<\/p>\n

Ogura makes history for Japan<\/p>\n

Ai Ogura completed the podium in third for Aprilia\u2019s satellite team, Trackhouse, giving the Italian manufacturer its first-ever podium sweep, while he became the first Japanese rider on the podium in 14 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I say, it just feels amazing\u2026 It was not an easy race, but good race pace and I\u2019m super happy,\u201d Ogura said.<\/p>\n

Ducati had another Sunday to forget, with reigning champion Marc Marquez missing the race after fracturing his foot in Saturday\u2019s sprint crash, while teammate and polesitter Francesco Bagnaia crashed while in second place.<\/p>\n

Bagnaia had a poor start, allowing Bezzecchi to take the lead while home favourite Fabio Quartararo moved up to second.<\/p>\n

Martin, unlike his lightning start in Saturday\u2019s sprint where he jumped from eighth to first in two turns, could not make up places initially in heavy traffic.<\/p>\n

But the dynamics shifted dramatically when Bagnaia, who had worked his way up to challenge for the lead, crashed at turn three on lap 16 while under pressure \u2013 his third Sunday retirement in five rounds this season.<\/p>\n

\"MarcoMartin, right, challenges Aprilia Racing teammate Marco Bezzecchi for the lead on lap 25 of the French MotoGP race at Le Mans, May 10, 2026 [Loic Venance\/AFP]Martin hunts down Bezzecchi<\/p>\n

Martin\u00a0seized the opportunity, moving past KTM\u2019s Pedro Acosta to second and then methodically hunting down Bezzecchi.<\/p>\n

Despite trailing by nearly three seconds at one point,\u00a0Martin\u00a0chipped away at the gap as the sun emerged from the clouds at an overcast Le Mans.<\/p>\n

Acosta\u2019s hopes of a third podium finish disappeared with four laps remaining when the late-race specialist Ogura slipped past the KTM rider, setting up Aprilia\u2019s historic sweep.<\/p>\n

Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola could barely watch as the two factory riders battled for the lead.<\/p>\n

With the duo separated by a point after five rounds, he was not worried about any tension between them in the garage, saying: \u201cThey are smart people, they are fighters. As long as they respect each other, I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Martin\u00a0took the chequered flag, he celebrated his breakthrough victory with his trademark windscreen smash before mimicking France forward Kylian Mbappe\u2019s goal celebration, crossing his arms across his chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still thinking about last year in Le Mans here, when\u00a0Jorge\u00a0wanted to leave (Aprilia) and I said, \u2018I think you can win with us.\u2019 So winning in Le Mans is quite special for me,\u201d Rivola added.<\/p>\n

In a final twist, Acosta was denied fourth place at the death when VR46 Racing\u2019s Fabio Di Giannantonio made a late lunge to steal the position with two corners remaining.<\/p>\n

\"JorgeMartin celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the French MotoGP [Loic Venance\/AFP]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-MotoGP world champion is now only a single point behind Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi in the riders\u2019 standings.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,2057,2592,806,805,3152,803,804,44,588,85],"class_list":["post-662648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motorsports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}