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For while the Aprilia rider heads the standings with 208 points from the opening 11 rounds before the start of the second half of the season at Silverstone for this weekend\u2019s British Grand Prix, there\u2019s another metric where he stands alone. <\/p>\n
History suggests it\u2019s not a good omen. <\/p>\n
MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n
CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE<\/a> Breaking down the contenders in MotoGP\u2019s tightest title fight yet<\/p>\n NEWS WRAP <\/a> Achilles\u2019 heel behind stunning fall, \u2018strange\u2019 truth in contender\u2019s rapid surge<\/p>\n After 11 rounds, no rider has crashed more times than Martin\u2019s 16 this season, per MotoGP\u2019s published \u2018falls report\u2019 that documents every spill from every rider across all three world championship classes. <\/p>\n Those 16 falls are as many as Martin\u2019s worst complete year for crashes, and a year that was a tale of what might have been for the Spaniard, 2023 when he came out on the wrong end of a season-long title fight with then-Ducati stablemate Francesco Bagnaia. <\/p>\n Martin leading the 2026 championship at the halfway stage is proof that all crashes aren\u2019t created equal \u2013 just four of those 16 have come in either sprints or Grands Prix. But they are a warning sign in a title fight that\u2019s tighter than any since the advent of the MotoGP era in 2002<\/a>, and a points to crashes statistical anomaly that would create history if it holds. <\/p>\n WHAT THE STATS TELL US<\/p>\n Across MotoGP\u2019s 22 full-time riders \u2013 we\u2019ll exclude injury replacements, fill-ins and wildcards for the sake of this exercise \u2013 every rider has crashed, on average, 8.2 times across all on-track sessions this year, a little more than half Martin\u2019s table-topping figure. <\/p>\n MotoGP crashes in 2026 (full-time riders only)<\/p>\n 16: Jorge Martin<\/p>\n 15: Joan Mir<\/p>\n 13: Franco Morbidelli<\/p>\n 12: Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez<\/p>\n 11: Marc Marquez <\/p>\n 10: Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Fabio Di Giannantonio <\/p>\n 9: Enea Bastianini <\/p>\n 8: Jack Miller<\/p>\n 7: Francesco Bagnaia<\/p>\n 6: Fermin Aldeguer, Luca Marini, Diogo Moreira, Toprak Razgatlioglu <\/p>\n 5: Ai Ogura, Johann Zarco<\/p>\n 4: Alex Rins, Maverick Vinales<\/p>\n 3: Fabio Quartararo <\/p>\n 2: Raul Fernandez <\/p>\n Proof that when you crash is arguably more important than how many times you crash? Martin\u2019s has four did not finish (DNF) results across 22 starts from sprints and Grands Prix; Honda\u2019s Joan Mir, no stranger to the top-end of the annual crash stats tables, has just one fewer crash but 12 DNFs, and has made the chequered flag in just four of the 11 Grands Prix this season to explain his lowly 18th place in the world championship standings. <\/p>\n PIT TALK PODCAST: Renita, Michael and Matt catch up with Australian Moto3 rider Joel Kelso, check in with Supercars series leader Matt Payne, and look at the MotoGP and F1 seasons after halfway through the 2026 calendar. | Listen to <\/a>Pit Talk<\/a> | Watch the podcast<\/a> on YouTube<\/p>\n Of Martin\u2019s four crashes in races, two have had major consequences. <\/p>\n In Catalunya \u2013 a weekend where he crashed five times from opening practice to the Grand Prix<\/a> and didn\u2019t score a single point after winning the sprint and Grand Prix at Le Mans one round earlier \u2013 an enraged Martin shoved team manager Paolo Bonora upon his return to the Aprilia pit box, prompting a sheepish apology once tensions had cooled. <\/p>\n In the Grand Prix in Hungary, an out-of-control Martin speared into the pack as the field braked for the first corner<\/a> at Balaton Park, taking out teammate Marco Bezzecchi, fellow Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez, and Ducati pair Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Di Giannantonio; only Di Giannantonio was able to rejoin the race, all four other bikes \u2013 three of them Aprilias \u2013 out on the spot. <\/p>\n Martin largely confining his crashes to practice sessions in 2026 has been part of the reasons he\u2019s retained the championship lead, but leading both the points and crashes table is a recipe for failure. <\/p>\n In the previous six years of recorded data, just once \u2013 when Bagnaia crashed 14 times and still won the title in 2022 \u2013 has that year\u2019s world champion been remotely close to the top of the crash stats list. <\/p>\n MotoGP world champion crash rankings, 2020-25<\/p>\n 2025: Marc Marquez (14 crashes, 12th overall in crashes)<\/p>\n 2024: Jorge Martin (15, 10th)<\/p>\n 2023: Francesco Bagnaia (7, 19th)<\/p>\n 2022: Francesco Bagnaia (14, 8th)<\/p>\n 2021: Fabio Quartararo (7, 12th)<\/p>\n 2020: Joan Mir (5, 10th)<\/p>\n Another reason for Martin to become more circumspect in the second half of this year? The rider who has topped the crash stats for the past six seasons has finished no better than sixth in the standings by the end of the season, when KTM\u2019s Pedro Acosta simultaneously showed his speed and inexperience with finding the limit on MotoGP machinery as a rookie two years ago.<\/p>\n Most crashes by year\/championship position, 2020-25 (current grid only)<\/p>\n 2025: Johann Zarco (28 crashes, 12th in world championship) <\/p>\n 2024: Pedro Acosta (28 crashes, 6th)<\/p>\n 2023: Marc Marquez (29 crashes, 14th)<\/p>\n 2022: Marco Bezzecchi (23 crashes, 14th)<\/p>\n 2021: Marc Marquez (22 crashes, 7th)<\/p>\n 2020: Johann Zarco (15 crashes, 13th)<\/p>\n One round after his sprint\/Grand Prix double in France, Martin spent most of the Catalan Grand Prix in the gravel and off his bike. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n CHAMPIONSHIP CONSIDERATIONS<\/p>\n Mir nearing the top of the crash standings after 11 rounds is hardly a shock, but not exactly costly, either.<\/p>\n The 2020 world champion \u2013 who, ironically, annexed that year\u2019s title for Suzuki by winning just one race but being uber-consistent and a reliable finisher \u2013 has averaged 21 crashes per season since he switched to Honda in 2023, and has just 26 world championship points to go with his 15 crashes this season. <\/p>\n MORE MOTOGP NEWS<\/p>\n EXPLAINER<\/a> The ripple effects from MotoGP\u2019s month of rider market madness<\/p>\n ANOTHER CHAMP ON THE MOVE <\/a> Quartararo switches sides with seismic move to Honda<\/p>\n Martin\u2019s crash tally relative to his rivals for the title is more cause for concern. <\/p>\n With just 24 points separating Martin from fifth-placed Di Giannantonio in the standings \u2013 MotoGP\u2019s tightest top five after 11 rounds, usurping 2020 (28 points) as the closest top five in the past 25 seasons \u2013 the crash stats have the potential to be doubly costly. <\/p>\n Martin has crashed five more times than reigning world champion Marc Marquez, third in the standings and 18 points in arrears. Marquez, interestingly, has crashed almost as many times this season (11) as he did in all of 2025 (14), where he cruised to his seventh premier-class world title.<\/p>\n Martin\u2019s factory Aprilia teammate Bezzecchi (22 points behind in fourth) has crashed four fewer times, but with greater consequences; Bezzecchi missed the Grand Prix in Czechia after he crashed in the sprint and was banned for striking a trackside marshal<\/a>, crashed out early in the Dutch Grand Prix in an Assen race where the other three Aprilia riders locked out the podium, then crashed in qualifying in Germany and broke his left collarbone, a spill that required surgery and saw him miss the Sachsenring sprint and Grand Prix. <\/p>\n Di Giannantonio, 24 points behind the leader and fifth overall, had his first Grand Prix non-finish for 18 starts when he crashed at the Sachsenring, and has already crashed 10 times this year in 11 rounds after crashing just five times in 22 a year ago. <\/p>\n