Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez has confirmed that he’s taking all three of his teams to Motegi in October. With Yamaha Tech3 having made their announcement at Brno, Aspar’s decision will be another blow to those riders who have been trying to get out of the Japanese GP, but have of late taken a softer stance at the idea of going to the Twin Ring circuit later this year.

Running teams in all three classes, the former 125cc World Champion turned team owner has a lot of clout and his decision will no doubt make other teams sit up and notice and help push them into making a decision in favour of the Japanese GP. Aspar’s decision could also be based on the fact that Nico Terol is currently leading the 125cc championship and a no show by Terol would certainly make life more easy for Johann Zarco, who is at the present trailing the Bankia Aspar Team rider by just 12 points.

“Sometimes we talk too much without having all the information. If being 120 km from the nuclear plant was that bad, people wouldn’t live there,” said Martinez. “A month ago the Japanese championship was held at Motegi. Companies and people are going to Japan every week and continue with their business. If it were serious, and I’m not talking just about racing, many multinational companies would have slowed their commitments to Japan. What we’ll do is shorten our stay. If we normally stay for 6 or 7 days, then we’ll go for 5, the minimum”. … “I don’t think that Dorna, Honda, or the most important companies related to our world would risk bringing people to a place where there was an obvious risk.”

Aspar continued, “First, there’s a report assessing the situation and secondly, there are contract obbligations that must be met, once they’ve told us that there is no risk. The GP teams have a contract with Dorna, which forces us to go if the race is on. If my people go I’ll lead group, and previously we held a meeting with an expert in the field that answered all the questions and doubts we had. “

Source | motoworld.es

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Elena Rosell will be getting another chance to race in Moto2 when the GP circus hits the Motorland Aragon circuit September 18th.

Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez promised the female rider at the end of her unfortunate debut at Assen another opportunity, and in order to have her much better prepared this time round, will have her testing on one of the team’s Suter MMXI before the Aragon GP in order for her to get used to this type of chassis.

Elena Rosell: “I’m happy about this new opportunity that the team is giving me. I have to say that from the day after Assen we’ve been working on this possibility, and have to thank Jorge Aspar and the team for the help they have and are giving me. I’ve raced at Alcañiz twice and I hope to get to the GP with a lot of mileage on the Suter, which will help me. Jorge Martinez has been following me all this time and even came to the CEV race at Albacete to wish me luck. And he brought me luck, because the race was great! Thanks to Jorge, the MAPFRE Aspar Team and my sponsors for this new opportunity and the chance to turn around what happened at Assen. ”

We wonder if Sito Pons will offer his unsolicited opinion on Martinez’s choices or if Chicho Lorenzo (Jorge’s father) will also have more to say about Rosell on his blog.

(Many thanks to Kumo for the tip about Lorenzo’s dad )

Source | motocuatro.com

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According to Spanish website as.com Aspar Racing is interested in fielding two Ducati’s in 2012.

Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez who’s contract with Ducati is up at the end of this season is already in talks with the Italian manufacturer to see if they can expand their MotoGP team and add a second rider to their line-up.

Hector Barbera’s contract is up at the end of 2011 and so is Alvaro Bautista’s with Rizla Suzuki. Martinez has always had a soft heart towards Bautista who won the 2006 125cc World Championship for the Spanish manager and compaigned hard to have Bautista debut in MotoGP with his team, only to have Bautista refuse to ride a Ducati and turn to Paul Denning’s squad.

If Suzuki should completely pull out of MotoGP in 2012 (the rumors are still there) Aspar’s team could be an option for Bautista.

Source | motoblog.it

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The rumors that Aprilia may have decided to enter MotoGP in 2012 with the new 1000cc rules and with Jorge ‘Aspar’ Martinez running the new team are getting stronger as the season goes by.

According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, Aprilia wants to enter MotoGP first with Martinez, who’s contract with Ducati is up at the end of 2011 and then officially enter the premier class with their own full fledged factory team in 2013.

The Italian sports daily is also reporting that deal between Aprilia’s technical director Gigi dall’Igna and the powerful Spanish manager who runs three teams in Grand Prix series, went through a couple of weeks ago and was overseen by Dorna’s Carmelo Ezpeleta.

The Piaggio Group is the fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer after Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, and Aprilia with Max Biaggi are on their way to their first WSBK championship just two years after the RSV4 Factory debut and the company can’t afford waiting any longer to appear in MotoGP in some form or other.

Source | gazzetta.it

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Every since Dorna and FIM announced the new 2012 rule change in MotoGP (that could actually be implemented in 2011) rumors that Aprilia could be returning to the premier class have been frequent, despite Gigi Dall’Igna and Leo Mercanti having always denied the rumor.

However the latest new coming out of Spain, have one of the most powerful managers of the GP paddock, Jorge Martinez (Team Aspar) and the Italian manufacturer working on an ambitious project that could see Aprilia debut next season in MotoGP with a 1000cc bike with a modified RSV4 engine.

Starting with Martinez would be an excellent move, because the Spaniard has one of the largest and the best organized structures in the Grand Prix circus. with teams in all three categories, and has had a long relationship with Aprilia’s Gigi Dall’Igna, despite last year’s falling out when Aprilia suddenly backed out of the Moto2, leaving Aspar without a chassis and scrambling to find a last minute supplier for Julian Simon and Mike di Meglio.

With the MotoGP grid down to sixteen riders after Valentino Rossi’s injury, and in a worse case scenario the risk that some other rider crashing and hurting himself, the sooner that privateer teams using modified production engines and prototype chassis can enter the series the bigger grid we’ll see and hopefully some interesting racing.

Source | motocuatro.com

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When Jorge “Aspar” Martinez finally got his chance to field a team in MotoGP, his first pick was 250cc rider Alvaro Bautista who turned his back on a satellite Ducati Desmosedici ride preferring to sign up with Suzuki for the next two years.

With a need of a Spanish rider to pacify his sponsor, Martinez turned to his second choice Héctor Barberá, who has his own personal sponsorship backing.

Speculation had it that Barberà had already signed at Brno, immediately after Bautista confirmed his deal with Suzuki, but it was only today that Martinez confirmed that Barberà has signed a one year contract with his team, with a further option for 2011.

The feisty Spanish rider is currently fourth in the 250cc standings and his name was one of the many linked to a Yamaha Tech 3 ride during silly season.

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Former 2007 125cc world champion Gabor Talmacsi will not take part in the French Grand Prix that will be held in Le Mans this weekend following a split from the Aspar Aprilia team Jorge “Aspar” Martinez, after just three rounds of this year’s 250cc World Championship.

According to a statement released on Thursday by Talmacsi’s Italian manager Stefano Favaro:

“We have been working with the team of Jorge Martinez since the 2007 World Championship season and, I still say, it was one of our best decisions to sign the contract with the Aspar Team. The problems started when at the very beginning of this season the second motorbike turned out to be still missing. Then this problem with the second bike seemed to be solved as Mr Martinez together with the new supporters of the team – Grupo Milton and Logistic Land – promised to cover the missing sponsorship money, and the second motorbike would be at Talma’s disposal at Jerez. But nothing happened.”

Continue reading: Gabor Talmacsi pulls out of Le Mans and Splits with Aspar Martinez

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