An intriguing recent court case featured brother versus sister over their late mother’s fortune. Shortly before her death, her will was changed, reversing the previous equal split of her estate, instead giving it all to the sister.
She backed up her claim, extraordinarily, with a video of her semi-comatose mother, clearly near death, signing the new will. The daughter is actually guiding her hand. She lost the case.
The relevance to MotoGP? Simply to show that families don’t necessarily treat one another fairly.
Dorna is ever-anxious to carol about “the MotoGP family”, as if each race was a happy picnic with rosy-cheeked cousins playing rounders with a tennis ball while their dads josh around at the barbie. Whereas in fact it is a hugely expensive and deadly serious commercial contest. No tennis balls here.
This is as it should be.
Proof came in Argentina, when one uncle asked the other uncles to help one of the currently disadvantaged cousins. Only for the chief uncle to politely tell him to get knotted.
The disadvantaged one is luckless Jorge Martin, who had run just 13 timed laps on his new Aprilia when a series of injurious accidents put him under the knife. The fifth and most serious was in his return at Qatar, this time breaking ribs and puncturing a lung – and it could have been much worse.
The defence of his world championship and his new adventure with Aprilia could hardly have started in a worse fashion. He missed the first three races before the Qatar crash and will now certainly miss more. And when he does come back he will be regaining physical strength while learning how to get the best from his new bike and new team. His rivals, on the other hand, will already be race-hardened and well up to speed.
Championship chances? Pfffffft.
Aprilia, naturally, sought to improve his position as much as possible. One element would be an exemption to the rule that bans riders from testing MotoGP bikes outside of the very limited official tests. Aprilia suggested this rule be modified, making exceptions for riders who had missed, say, a certain number of races through injury. Let them (i.e., let Jorge) ride their real racing bikes, as much on safety grounds as well as the obviously helpful chance to gain familiarity.
After all, fast road bikes might once have had more in common with grand prix prototypes, but current electronics/aerodynamics/ride-height-variations and so on have very much widened the gap. It’s all very well hammering round on a track-day street bike, but a long way short of the nuance and the fury of a MotoGP missile.
There was a general air of agreement from the other teams. After all, they might easily find themselves in a similar situation. This would benefit all.
Even Ducati dubbed it was a good idea. Just not now, and not for Jorge. Team chief Davide Tardozzi was clear, interviewed for Dorna’s TV, that any rule change must wait until 2026 at the earliest, as “a good idea… for future”. For one thing, he thought Jorge was good enough not to need it. For another – and here’s where the family feuding shows – when their factory rider Enea Bastianini suffered injury early in 2023, “nobody gave us the opportunity to let him test”.
Jorge Martin, looking very rueful, joined in the pre-race press conference in Argentina, giving his major rivals – the brothers Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia – the chance to express heartfelt wishes for a full recovery. Especially, a point emphasised by Marc, if he makes sure to give himself enough time to really regain strength. Rather than coming back just to claim championship points.
Good wishes are one thing. Actual assistance different. Even in ‘the family’.
