Unbelievable: Jorge Martin’s ‘inch-perfect’ French GP Sprint has Neil Hodgson calling him royalty

Neil Hodgson praises Jorge Martin for hitting the ground running

Back in March at the US Grand Prix, Martin claimed the COTA Sprint win with a late move on Bagnaia. He went with a medium rear tyre while Bagnaia chose the soft, and that made all the difference.

But at Le Mans, it was his blistering start that put him in control early. He jumped from P8 to fourth before Turn 1 and then made a bold move around the outside at Turn 3, quickly getting ahead of Marco Bezzecchi by Turn 4.

Hodgson pointed to Martin’s ability to find his rhythm straight away as a key factor in his success this time around. Even though he only qualified eighth, he had looked sharp throughout practice sessions.

“He was just inch perfect. He’s always had that ability just to go straight to the limit on those opening laps”, Hodgson said on TNT Sports 2.

“That’s why he’s won so many Sprint Races. He looked good in FP1, though. [They] showed him in FP1, and I thought, ‘That’s as good as I’ve seen him look on the Aprilia’.

“I thought [he could take pole] because of what I’d seen earlier on in the weekend, and then when he qualified on the third row, I was thinking, ‘Well, he isn’t going to win this race.”

Michael Laverty suggests Jorge Martin may soon regret his move to Yamaha

With two Sprint wins already this season, Michael Laverty believes Martin may be starting to regret his reported decision to leave Aprilia for Yamaha. It’s been widely speculated that the agreement was reached as early as February.

Laverty said: “He did it before at Pramac. He got the number one plate, [and then] went to Aprilia. Could he do it again at Aprilia, and go to Yamaha with another championship? It’s possible.

“He’s getting ever so close in terms of the points, but it’s how comfortable he looks on the bike, for me. He looks so good with it right now, and the Jorge Martin of old prior to those injuries is back.

“The comments from Massimo Rivola are that it’s not a done deal that he’s going to Yamaha. But who knows it? They have a Plan B if Jorge does exit Aprilia, but he wouldn’t want to now.

“Obviously, these decisions are made so early, we expected maybe to wait until this point, until we come back to Europe. But we believe those contracts were signed maybe back at rounds two and three. So, it’s a bit of a shame if he does exit early on current form.”

This comes after Fabio Quartararo reportedly signed with Honda for 2027—another open secret yet to be officially confirmed by either team.