A competitor through and through, Jorge Martín can hardly be satisfied with seeing others than him win, and even more so if it is his main opponent for the title. But the Spaniard, who has worked on his way of managing races he cannot win, once again proved in Motegi how much he has progressed in his approach this year, measuring his attack without overdriving to validate the maximum number of points. possible.
After his fourth place in the sprint, he finished this weekend on the second step of the podium. This Japanese GP which he won last year this time earned him a loss of 11 points over Pecco Bagnaia, but also left him with the feeling of having limited the damage after a fall in qualifying which could have had consequences much heavier still.
Eleventh on the grid, Martín once again had a very good start this Sunday, “not as good as yesterday” according to him, but enough to allow him to gain seven places in the first round, sorry. “Overtake Marc [Márquez]Aeneas [Bastianini] and Brad [Binder] was difficult, they are super strong when braking and so I had to take more risks than yesterday. But then the pace was good, I was a little faster than yesterday”, relates the Pramac driver, who already only had Bagnaia as a target from the third lap.
It was then a long duel at distance which opened between them, with a gap varying from tenth to tenth depending on the attack of one and the response of the other. Never, however, did Martín come back to less than seven tenths of the leader, completely in control. And even if both sometimes scared each other, managing between talent and luck a motorcycle pushed to its limits, the hierarchy did not vary until the checkered flag.
“I’m happy. Of course I could be a little more happy if I was in front of Pecco but today the objective was to get on the podium and we achieved it. Starting 11th, it was difficult “, comments the Spanish driver, who nevertheless does not agree with his team manager when he gives this second place acquired from the fourth row of the grid the value of a victory. “It’s great, but it’s not like a victory, I’m a driver and I always want to fight to win.”
Jorge Martín ultimately only missed 1.189 seconds at the finish of the Japanese GP.
Photo by: Dorna
“The main problem was that when I got closer to Pecco and I was less than half a second away, I started to suffer at the front, as we all know. So that’s it. was quite difficult but I didn’t give up, I tried again and again.”
“With ten laps to go, I told myself I was going to try again. I saw that Pecco was having a little trouble braking so I pushed a lot,” continues Jorge Martín. “When I started to get closer, I saw that Pecco widened a little in turn 11, twice, so I told myself that he too was pushing 100%. It was a big fight at distance “We weren’t very close so I never had the opportunity to try to pass, but I put pressure on him to try to force him and he was super strong.”
Three laps from the finish, I got really hot and this heat told me ‘Jorge it’s time to stop!’
“I said to myself ‘push, push, push’ and everything was under control, although quite on the limit,” he judges. Except that his bike ended up calling him to order when the gap fell back to under a second at the end of the race. “Three laps from the finish, I got really hot at turn 3 and the heat told me, ‘Jorge, it’s time to stop!’” smiles Martín in his debrief for the official MotoGP website.
Although disappointed at not having been able to get close enough to attack his rival, the Spanish driver therefore considers himself “satisfied with this second place” which limits the rapprochement of Bagnaia in the general classification. “I finished with 20 points. Pecco was very strong, he’s a maestro at managing the rear tire, he did an incredible job. But after coming back from the fourth row to second place, I brings good confidence to Australia, which is a good track for me.”
See you in the next round!
