Jorge Martin was one of the guests at WDW 2024, the big party for Ducati fans and owners held this weekend in Misano, ahead of next week’s British GP, where he hopes to recover from the serious mistake he made at the Sachsenring at the beginning of July.
The Ducati Pramac rider arrived in Germany as the World Championship leader and exited that weekend with a crash while leading the race with two laps to go, which elevated Pecco Bagnaia to the lead and brothers Marc and Alex Marquez to a historic double podium. A very serious mistake by Martin which, together with his departure from Ducati in 2025 to ride with Aprilia, leaves him in a delicate situation for the second part of the season.
Martin was the rider who scored the most points in the second half of 2023, managing to keep the title fight alive with Bagnaia until the last race, despite not being part of the official Ducati team. A year later and after what happened, it seems very difficult that the Spaniard can be in the fight again.
The crash in Germany, which “handed” the victory and the lead of the championship to Bagnaia, left him in a complicated situation for the Italian manufacturer, which wants to demonstrate, logically, that choosing Marquez for the official team is the right decision.
“It’s been a great story with Ducati and Pramac, we haven’t closed the circle yet, but I think they’ve been years of development of the bike, of the team, I’d say we’ve grown together,” Martin explained in a conversation with GPone. “When I arrived, the Ducati wasn’t the best bike, it hadn’t won any titles yet. But with Pecco, Enea Bastianini and also with me, I think the project has grown,” added the Pramac rider, who then continued during the Ducati fans’ party: “It’s a shame I can’t continue, but I’m happy to be here (in Misano this weekend). Maybe it won’t be my last WDW, maybe I’ll come back in the future. But that’s how things are now,” said the new Aprilia rider who will join Marco Bezzecchi, another rider leaving Ducati.
Caída de Jorge Martín, Pramac Racing on the German road
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Many believe that events, particularly the closing of the door by the factory Ducati team, have distanced Martin from the bike and that he has succumbed to the pressure. However, the Spaniard believes that the opposite is true, that he now has the peace of mind of knowing his future.
“I think in Germany, when I had the contract with Aprilia and everything was clear, I was very fast, faster than anyone else; I made a mistake, but it’s enough to learn from it, the important thing was to be at a high level and now I feel very good,” he said, without considering that he would have to face changes in his approach to racing. “I don’t have to do anything special, I’m in perfect shape and I think I’m good enough to finish the races. I think I’ve made a good step forward and I think if we work well, we can at least stay in the fight until the end,” he assured.
In addition to Martin, who will leave for Aprilia at the end of the year, his team, Prima Pramac, after 20 years will also cease to be a satellite team of Ducati and in 2025 will be associated with Yamaha, which makes it very difficult to think that all the updates will arrive from Bologna in Paolo Campinoti’s garage.
Neither the team nor the driver see, or do not want to see, a problem from this point of view, however.
“I think everything is normal at Pramac, it’s not that much has changed compared to before,” Martin relieved. “But these future changes have brought us closer as a team,” he added.
“In the end we understood… it’s not that we are alone, but we are certainly more alone than in past seasons. Before we had the certainty of continuing with Ducati, many things could easily be overcome. Now, as a team, we must unite even more to give 100%”, warned the Spaniard.
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