Sports editor. Passionate about sports and a specialist in motorcycling.
Jorge Martín is now the MotoGP World Champion. The Spanish rider has etched his name in gold letters in the premier category. A dream come true after a challenging season, where his consistency and perseverance have been key to clinching the world title. However, unlike other sports, in motorcycle racing, the world champion does not receive any monetary reward just for winning the title, as is the case in tennis or when winning the Champions League in football, for example.
In this instance, Dorna Sports, the organizing entity of the MotoGP World Championship, does not provide any financial reward to riders for being the world champion. In tennis, when a player wins a tournament, or in football, when a team wins the Champions League, they receive a check for finishing in the top position. But here, it doesn’t work that way. In none of the three categories does the champion receive any financial gain from the event organizers.
The riders earn a salary from their teams and also from the sponsors that back them. There is, however, a bonus for being crowned world champion. Each rider negotiates with their team and sponsors additional amounts, on top of what they already earn, if they win the World Championship. But this depends on each team, each rider, and each sponsor.
As for Jorge Martín, the exact amount he could earn as a bonus for being the MotoGP world champion remains unknown, provided it is stipulated in his contract. However, financial considerations are the least of his worries at the moment, as he has achieved the dream he has been chasing since he was a child.
Consistency has made the difference in this championship, where both riders have broken the points record in a year. Pecco Bagnaia has suffered a total of eight retirements and crashes across both sprint and long races (five in the sprint and three on Sunday), while Martín has only failed to score in three instances across both races. This has been the crucial difference in this world championship: the consistency of the Madrid native.
Martín has learned from last year’s lessons, and when he couldn’t finish first, he often found himself in second place. In fact, he finished second in both races (sprint and long) on six occasions, was first in the sprint twice and second in the long race, four times fourth and second, once first and third, and once in Le Mans, first in both. That young boy who dreamed of being a world champion now has his title under his belt. It is now a reality. Barcelona will forever be etched in his memory as the race where he achieved his first MotoGP world championship. Last year he fell just short, and this year he has won convincingly thanks to his consistency throughout the season.
