Jorge Martin concluded the 2023 season in second position in the general classification, 39 points behind Pecco Bagnaia. In Valencia he lost his last chance to fight for the title with a crash in Sunday’s race following an accident with Marc Marquez which handed the title into the hands of the official Ducati rider. But according to the Pramac standard bearer, the world championship did not slip away in the last grand prix of the year, but rather before.
Dominator of the Sprint in Indonesia, the Spaniard took the championship lead for the first time, driving 7 points ahead of Bagnaia. The following day, however, he crashed when he was dictating the pace by a significant margin. The victory went to Pecco, author of a spectacular comeback from 13th position on the grid which allowed him to return to the top of the standings. Martin has never been able to reverse the roles since then.
The Spanish driver has often wanted to subjugate the competition in 2023, a feat he has succeeded several times in short races. This also explains the bucking choice of the soft tire at Phillip Island, which condemned him at the end, causing him to lose the victory and relegating him to fifth position. But above all it is Mandalika’s mistake that stands in his way and which will serve as a lesson for him: he in fact recognized that he had had too much enthusiasm on that occasion.
“I’ve made great progress compared to last year,” said Martin speaking to Spanish TV channel Antena 3. “Before, I crashed a lot and that cost me a lot of points. This year however I have been rather regular. I learned to have consistency. But one thing that still hurts me is the crash in Indonesia, where I was leading with a three-second lead before crashing. Without that zero, I would have won the title.”
Jorge Martin
“I felt so much superior in that moment,” confesses Martin. “I wanted to humiliate them, so to speak. This made me fall. I learned that you can win something by tenths or by a second, but the points won are the same.”
Gigi Dall’Igna wasn’t wrong when he spoke of an “excess of zeal” on the part of the Pramac rider after that mistake. Martin seems to have learned his lesson, given that in Thailand, the scene of his last success in a Sunday race, he didn’t want to overdo it and prevailed over Brad Binder (later penalized) and over Bagnaia.
Overall, the Madrid native had a difficult time during the Asian trip, when the championship gap between the two title contenders was narrow. He admits that he was hard on his team, before feeling freer for the last race of the season: “I enjoyed myself in Valencia. From Thailand to Qatar I had a difficult period because I was obsessed with victory, there was tension in team and I decided to change my state of mind.”
Although Jorge Martín has won four Grands Prix this year, he has been less explosive than in the Sprints, which he has won on nine occasions. These, which are shorter, he feels are made about him. “It’s all about instinct,” he explained, adding that “pure speed” is his “strong point”.
However, managing longer races over time remains a challenge for him: “There are thousands of things to think about in a MotoGP race, in about 42 minutes. There are a lot of things to manage, it’s not just about giving gas and to give the best of oneself! We need to think about management, strategy, if I’m behind, if he comes back, if a group is formed…”.
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