Jorge Martín
Jorge Martín won the 2024 MotoGP world championship riding for the Pramac satellite Ducati team rather than a factory outfit, an unusual and celebrated path to the title in an era when factory teams had come to dominate the standings.
Jorge Martín won the Moto3 world championship in 2018 and progressed through Moto2 before joining the Pramac satellite Ducati team in MotoGP, quickly establishing himself as one of the fastest qualifiers on the grid.
After several seasons building toward a title challenge, Martín won the 2024 MotoGP world championship with Pramac, becoming the first rider on a satellite rather than a factory team to win the premier-class title in the sport's modern era, and setting a new record for pole positions in a single season along the way.
Immediately after winning the title, Martín signed with Aprilia's factory team for the 2025 season, a high-profile move by a reigning world champion away from the manufacturer that had just won him the title.
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Martín's championship came riding for Pramac Racing, an independent team running Ducati machinery rather than Ducati's own factory squad, a notable achievement in an era when factory-backed riders had won almost every recent title.
During his title-winning campaign, Martín set a new record for the most pole positions achieved by a rider in a single MotoGP season, underlining his one-lap speed as one of the strongest in the field.
Rather than staying with Ducati after his championship, Martín signed for Aprilia's factory team, a high-profile manufacturer switch by a reigning world champion that drew significant attention across the paddock.
Martín won the Moto3 world championship in 2018 before progressing through Moto2 and into the premier class, a conventional route through the sport's feeder categories that several of the current MotoGP grid's leading riders have also followed.
Martín's rise adds to a long list of successful Spanish riders across MotoGP's modern era, following in the tradition established by Ángel Nieto and Álex Crivillé decades earlier.