Jorge Martin faces at least two weeks in Qatar hospital

Newly injured world champion Jorge Martin may be forced to spend at least two weeks resting in hospital in Qatar before he can return home to Spain. Initial indications are that he will be out for around three months.

The Spaniard, who had only just made a return to MotoGP action after recovering from the injuries that kept him out of the first three races of the year, fell on lap 14 of Sunday’s Qatar GP. The Aprilia rider was then struck by Fabio di Giannantonio as he lay on the track. 

The subsequent hospital assessment revealed a pneumothorax and eleven broken ribs. Martin has had a drainage tube inserted in his right side, which could potentially be removed in four to seven days.

“This second night in hospital went a little better,” explained an Motorsport.com source close to Martin’s camp. “But he is in a lot of pain and the tube embedded in his side is bothering him a lot.”

A return home to Spain is an understandable priority for Martin, but the nature of his injuries means that flying could be painful or outright impossible. “If everything goes very well, Jorge could try to get on a plane and fly in about two weeks. Maybe even three,” sources said.

No matter how well things go from a travel perspective, a doctor who regularly treats MotoGP riders said that Martin would be out for no less than three months, pending further details of the injuries.

After being injured three times in 65 days and suffering two very bad crashes after the first two recoveries, Martin must take it easy before getting back aboard the Aprilia. This will be even more important now than it was in the build-up to his Qatar return.

In his exclusive interview with Motorsport.com last week, world championship leader Marc Marquez said the only regret of his career was returning from injury too soon in 2020.

Watch: Regrets, Family and Ducati: A Deep-Dive with MotoGP's Marc Marquez

Before Qatar, Martin said he was grateful to Marquez for advising him to take his time in recovering from the injuries that prevented him from taking part in the first three race weekends.