Jorge Martin revealed that he ended a 15-year relationship with his personal sponsor Red Bull following Aprilia's new deal with Monster Energy.
On Friday, Aprilia announced that it signed American energy drinks giant Monster as its title sponsor, confirming a report published by Motorsport.com earlier this week.
Both Martin and Marco Bezzecchi headed out on track in Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix sporting Monster's famous green claw on their RS-GP, as Aprilia brought forward a deal originally earmarked for 2027.
While Aprilia benefits from increased revenue just when it is pouring resources into the development of new 850cc bikes, the news comes as a blow to Martin, who learned about the deal two weeks ago at the Catalan Grand Prix.
Already on Wednesday, the 2024 champion appeared at a pre-Mugello event wearing the standard Aprilia cap, rather than his bespoke Red Bull headgear.
"That's how it is," Martín said when asked about the deal by Motorsport.com Spain. "Any economic improvement that can bring value to the team, in the end, translates into improvements and developments. On my side, it has been 15 years that I have been with Red Bull and I will always be grateful to them for the opportunity they gave me to jump into the Rookies Cup, but it has been something I could not control."
Initially, it appeared that Martin was working on potentially putting the deal on hold, however the Spaniard clarified that the relationship is essentially over.
"It has ended for the moment. I don't know if in the future we may be able to return one day, but as of today, we are no longer together," he said.
Apart from the financial benefit, the relationship with the Austrian drinks company boosts any rider's image and grants them access to the exclusive Red Bull Performance Centre in Salzburg.
"My relationship with Red Bull has always been incredible, and I think it is going to continue being very, very good,," he said. "It is a relationship of many years and surely if I asked them to use it, surely there would be no problem."
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