Jorge Martín continues to believe in the World Cup. He will not give in until the end, no matter how difficult the mathematics make it for him. “It’s complicated, but better than yesterday,” he smiled after prolonging the fight this Saturday. With his ninth victory of the year in the new format sprint, the 25-year-old driver from Madrid closed the gap with Pecco Bagnaia, the defender of the crown, to just 14 points. The Italian and Ducati mainstay, stiff during the short race this Saturday, could only be fifth and saw how the Spanish candidate overtook him on the first lap towards victory despite having beaten him a few hours earlier in the fight against the chrono Starting from second position, however, was of little use to him.
“I wanted to win, but we didn’t have the best cards, so we decided to take a risk,” explained the Pramac driver. His decision to mount the soft rear rubber to be able to push as much as possible during the test was key. “It was beautiful, I really enjoyed today. The team has done a great job, and once again we have been the best,” he highlighted. Martín prefers to keep a cool head, and he prefers not to make movies about the magnitude of the challenge. “I prefer not to imagine it. I hope it happens. “It is the dream of my life, and it is the closer I have had it… but at the same time it is far away,” he stressed.
The same result this Sunday (3:00 p.m., La 1, DAZN) would still give the title to the defender of the crown, but Martín’s heart does not allow him to give up. “I will go out and give it my all, I have nothing to lose.” If he wins again in the long race and the Italian is sixth, the title would be for him. Knowing that nothing is impossible brought him to ecstasy after crossing the finish line. The fans in Cheste also believe in surprise. “Yes we can, yes we can,” chanted the audience while the Pramac candidate celebrated his victory on the podium. Along with him, the KTM of Brad Binder and Marc Márquez, in their last race with Honda, took a beautiful bath of the masses. The eight-time world champion shed some tears.
It was not a day for the faint of heart in the garage of the Spanish candidate for the title. The fight for pole position He ran out of gear and another tire problem, as happened in Qatar, ruined his plans. He could only be sixth on the grid after feeling strong vibrations on his first attempt, but he knew how to reset and go all out in a Ricardo Tormo filled to the brim.
Biel Aliño (EFE)
At the start, Bagnaia looked determined and took the lead from his second place without flinching into the first corner. Martín also did well and was third, and was soon able to show the bike to his great rival for the crown. Maverick Viñales, author of the pole, he broke away from the current champion and the Spaniard came from behind without any kind of consideration. His aggressiveness caused both of them to go past in turn 11, and Brad Binder and Marc Márquez slipped through that gap, taking advantage of the tension of the title at stake. It was just what the candidate needed, more pilots involved.
From there, Bagnaia was left behind and Martín grew and moved forward, once again intractable in the explosive format of the sprint. In the second round he returned the move to Márquez, who almost threw him in the morning while following him in the qualifying round. He then knew how to temporize and maintain his nerve to close the gap with a head start. When he caught up with the leading riders, on the eighth lap, he only needed half of the short route to pass Viñales’ Aprilia and Binder’s KTM. The man from Madrid never looked back and galloped with determination until he crossed the finish line to complete the grand finale for the title.
Never had a driver faced match point coming from losing against his great rival on the same weekend. Psychologically, it will not be easy to overcome the bad taste in the mouth of such a recent defeat. “I hope to sleep, last year I was able to do so,” confessed the champion. “In the end, I have been losing on Saturday for half a year and recovering on Sunday. I think the pressure is similar for both, and neither of them can fail,” the Turin native analyzed, undaunted whether he wins or loses. Tonight he will have dinner with the team and then watch a movie with Domizia, his fiancée, before going to bed. In his garage, the faces were long, the tension evident. “We made a mistake with the choice of rubber,” everyone acknowledged. Those who wore the rear tights suffered, and the three on the podium opted for the soft option.
The Italian also had some luck when Fabio Quartararo crashed while overtaking him on the fifth lap. A strike of the Frenchman would have sent him to the gravel and demanded even more this Sunday. “That was very close,” the number one snorted. Another who seemed to do him a favor, perhaps thinking about his last chance to get on a motorcycle next year, was Fabio DiGiannantonio. The man from Gresini harassed his compatriot as he already did a week ago in Qatar to win the first race of his life, but on this occasion he stood firm behind his theoretical leader. Nobody knows if there were factory orders in this regard, although Ducati has always defended that all its riders are free to fight as long as they do not exceed the limits.
This Sunday, again in the midst of a sea of crossed interests between the competitors, the final fireworks of the championship promise a spectacle on par with one of the most exciting outcomes in memory. Martín fulfilled his plan on Saturday, and it will only be worth finishing on the podium and seeing what Bagnaia does. If he repeats victory, the most realistic option for him, the Turin native should not go higher than sixth place. Until now, the defending champion has always been able to get up and respond in long races. This has been the script for the entire year, but in MotoGP there are always unexpected turns. It’s a movie ending.
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