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Jorge Martin's magical moment is continuing, as he managed to straighten out a complicated qualification at Mandalika, winning the Sprint Race. A splendid comeback victory, which allowed the Pramac team rider to complete mission overtake, displacing Francesco Bagnaia from the top of the world championship standings.
“Happy today! Was a difficult race because starting in sixth was not the best position, but I was able to overtake a lot of riders on a track that is normally difficult. Hopefully tomorrow we can repeat it,” commented Martinator, describing how he feels about being the new championship leader: “It feels good. It feels amazing and feels like a dream, but every race will be the same - I need to attack, I need to enjoy the moment and everything that comes is good. The pressure, I feel, is on Pecco. I will keep the same mentality.”
An attitude that has allowed the Madrilenian to score eight consecutive podiums in the last five rounds, while his rival Bagnaia seems to be increasingly in difficulty in this final part of the season.
“I always look at Pecco's data to see what he does during the weekend and the set-ups he uses. I had a look to understand the situation, but I just have to work on myself and concentrate on my riding style and my settings", declared the Spanish rider, who has no regrets about how his season started: "I think that I made several mistakes and lost a lot of points at the start of the championship, but this year is a learning process and I hope to have another opportunity next year and learn from these mistakes."
A crash during this morning's Qualifying seemed to have compromised the 25-year-old's weekend, as he was forced to start from the second row.
“I crashed with the good front tyre and with the hard it was impossible - explained Jorge - I was improving by four tenths compared to yesterday in the first sector and it would certainly have been a lap between 1'29" and a very low 1'30", but I almost slid in Turn 5 and when I crashed returning to the pits I lost that opportunity, I had to put on the hard tyre and I did the best I could with it."
Martinator's race was all about attack, overtaking all his opponents without making any mistakes.
“I wasn’t in the best position for sure. Going into the first corner I was on the dirty side and I couldn’t overtake. I was just maintaining the place. Then, step-by-step I was overtaking riders and felt really good - he admitted – I thought I wouldn’t be able to overtake Brad before the race, but suddenly I overtook all of them even if I was managing the rear tyre. It was difficult to make it to the end because the soft was really soft. I’m proud of the work.”
With a dirty track with little rubber, overtaking proved to be a difficult task for everyone except the Madrilenian, who explained how he managed to recover without risking losing the front.
“It was complicated. I think the track is getting cleaner now, which is why we went faster and today, with the used soft tyre I lapped similar to what I did in qualifying with the new tyre. The track isn't bad, but it's difficult to overtake because you only have one and a half meters of line and you have to be smart to carefully prepare the overtaking points, two or three corners before. I did this and it worked - observed Martin - I struggled a bit with the tyres, perhaps the pressure on the front was a little high, but we were certainly within the limits. My crew chief has done a fantastic job in these last four or five races and I hope we will continue with this consistency. Today I gave 100%, because we are in MotoGP and if you start sixth it is very difficult to overtake champions like Fabio without taking risks."
A strategy that the Spaniard plans to adopt also in the Grand Prix, when it will be even more crucial to manage the tyres well.
“I believe tomorrow will be similar to today. This morning I was the only one to work with the medium on the rear and I think this is a positive thing, because I know the tyre a bit more and I hope to be able to take advantage of it tomorrow - stated Jorge - The medium seems to work quite well, it's not very simple when braking but it certainly goes better than with the soft. Maverick today completely destroyed it after 7 or 8 laps, while the medium is much more consistent.”
