MotoGP | Martin: “It’s nice to pass Pecco at Turn 8, where you can’t pass!”

The Sachsenring seems to have a new king: Jorge Martin, after last year’s one-two, returned to the top step of the podium in the Sprint of the German Grand Prix, making himself a strong favourite for Sunday’s race as well. The championship leader returned to success for the first time since the Sprint in Barcelona and took pole position in the German morning, starting from an advantageous position that he initially failed to fully exploit.

Despite a good start, the Pramac rider lost two positions, allowing Pecco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira to come back, placing themselves ahead of him and trying to dictate the pace. However, the Madrid rider’s strategy prevailed and he returned to the front to win with an advantage of almost seven tenths over the Portuguese rider from the Trackhouse team.

“What I can do is take advantage of the opportunities, today there was one,” Martin began to the press microphones. The Pramac rider did not expect to be able to return to the top step of the podium despite the pole, but he turned the situation around and then crossed the finish line in front of everyone. “At the start of the Sprint I thought that today there was no opportunity to win. I used the rubber a bit in the first laps to overtake and in the final it cost me a bit, but in the end I managed to open a gap little by little”.

One of the most spectacular moments of the Sprint was Martin’s overtaking of Bagnaia at Turn 8, a tricky spot where it’s quite rare to see such moves: “I made up for it very quickly, I overtook Miguel and then Pecco at Turn 8, where it’s very difficult to overtake, in fact I wasn’t expecting it. It was definitely a nice overtaking! We’re not used to seeing overtaking at Turn 8, and on Pecco even less! Last year I did the same thing on Marini, but doing it on Pecco is nice. I saw that he was holding, but I wasn’t. If I had been in front in his place I would have done the same thing.”

“On the lap before the overtaking, I saw that Pecco was conserving the tyre a lot. I thought I wouldn’t conserve it and I took Turn 8 as if it were a time attack! But I saw that I could have passed on the lap before. I lifted the bike, I corrected my body so as not to touch him, because what I’m not looking for is contact. But maybe I destabilised him a bit. Then I saw that Oliveira was second, I don’t know if it was because of my overtaking or something else,” he explained, confirming Bagnaia’s words, who revealed that he had been wrong to be too conservative.

Sunday’s race will be another good test, because the weather will change again and tyre wear will play a fundamental role: “Will tomorrow’s race be more complicated? I don’t know, I don’t think so, but it will certainly be as difficult as the Sprint. I think the lower temperatures can help us in terms of consumption, the medium on the rear can help the Ducatis to consume less on the front too. Because I see that Aprilia suffers less at the front, maybe it has less grip at the rear, but it uses the front less”.

“I suffered because usually you reach the maximum on the fourth or fifth lap, but on the first lap I was already at the limit, so it means that you destroy yourself. I had done the calculations to be first, instead on the first lap I was third and this broke the rules for me. I was aware of this and I rode with a high pressure. With this new generation of tyre, I can’t lean too much because I lose the front, so I concentrate on braking hard and accelerating early. Did the pressure drop? No, it remained because it was difficult to lower it. Then I was pulling quite a bit, it was complicated to calculate, but perhaps the riders behind suffered”.

Special attention to Marc Marquez, as always. The Sachsenring dominator has come back from 13th to sixth place despite an injury he had yesterday. Martin does not exclude him from the fight: “If there is anyone who can be in the game starting 13th it is Marc! So we will see, the race is very long. He also has time to arrive. It is difficult because to overtake you have to use the tire more and, when you arrive in a decent position you have already consumed more than the others”.