Objective: improve overtaking
On the eve of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello Jorge Martin’s move to the official Ducati team for the next two years seemed to be now a given. The Spanish rider had already lost the run-off with Enea Bastianini in 2022 and after the second half of 2023 and the excellent start of 2024 he was convinced he had overcome any type of resistance or doubt within the management of the Borgo Panigale company. The variable Marc Marquez, however, upset the bank. Faced with the “No” of the eight-time world champion regarding a hypothetical transfer to Pramac in 2025 with treatment as an official rider, the Ducati top brass decided that in order not to risk losing Marc Marquez, he would be the one to complete the factory pairing with Francesco Bagnaia. In the space of a few hours, Martin went from being sure of a move to the official Ducati to being overtaken in this virtual race by Marc Marquez, just as Enea Bastianini had overtaken him two years ago.
“What hurt me the most is that on Friday I was calmafter the phone calls from Dall’Igna and Tardozzi. But nothing official happened. Suddenly I had a bad feeling. Nobody told me anything else, I found out otherwise – Martin said in an interview given to The Republic – this story was not handled well. Anger? No anger. No desire for revenge. Frustration. For having fought so hard, trying to prove who I was to someone who didn’t really care. But in the end, I felt liberated. Today I thank Ducati and Pramac, especially Paolo Campinoti, it’s with them that I entered MotoGP. At that time Quartararo’s Yamaha was winning, Suzuki was going very strong: it was the right choice, I learned a lot“.
TO media level Martin doesn’t ‘fail’ like Marquez and Bagnaia, but the 2018 Moto3 champion doesn’t suffer from this dynamic: “Pecco is the reigning champion. Many journalists are Catalan, and in any case Marc is a figure who has given a lot to this sport. It is normal that there is all this attention towards them. Patience”. As for the fight with Bagnaia and Marquez, Martin knows that there is one aspect in which he must improve, and it is not a secondary one: “Marc is an incredible champion, one of the greatest together with Valentino, he is instinct and pure speed; Pecco is colder, he thinks a lot and well. I have something of both: compared to them I lack a bit of aggression when overtaking and in other circumstances, I can improve”.
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