MotoGP | Martin: “I'm a leader with problems, imagine what I can do without them”

Jorge Martin finished last season in incredible form and has started 2024 on the back of last year. The Pramac standard bearer, in fact, enters the Spanish Grand Prix as championship leader with 21 points ahead of the first of his pursuers, Enea Bastianini. The Spaniard appears to be the big favourite, however it's not all simple and he comes from a race in Austin that wasn't particularly satisfactory in terms of results.

In front of his audience, Martin sets himself the goal of conquering the first podium in the premier class in Jerez, a feat he achieved only once when he was racing in Moto2. Could this be the right weekend? “Austin was a bit difficult for me, although I managed to save the weekend after the crash in qualifying,” began the championship leader speaking to the media on Thursday at the Spanish Grand Prix.

“I gave my best and got some good points for the championship. Now we arrive at Jerez, the Spanish Grand Prix is ​​always special. I think I've only made one podium here in Moto2 and the goal is to get on the podium and improve on last year's results. Since the middle of last season I have been more competitive and I would like to continue to have this consistency. In the past I had always struggled in the first part of the season, now I'm trying to do better and try to be calmer in some situations where in the past I was more nervous”, explained Martin, who in addition to having taken a step forward in terms technicians, he also seems to have matured on a mental level.

However, the GP24 brought with it enormous development but also chattering problems, which several experienced during these first three races. Among these, also Martin himself: “It's unpredictable. It depends a lot on some situations. In some races we have it, in others we don't… It appears and disappears. It's hard for us to understand, but in Austin we seem to have something figured out from Saturday to Sunday. So I think it will get better, and if it doesn't I will run with it and try to get the best result possible.”

“Already in the tests in Malaysia we had had problems during the Sprint simulation. But initially we thought it was the tires. I had the same problems in Qatar, but Pecco didn't have them. He was very fast, he broke records… I thought it was my fault, but then I saw that I wasn't the only one with problems,” he continued, recalling how complicated the winter tests had been from this point of view.

However, this does not take anything away from the Desmosedici, which once again proves to be the most competitive bike on the grid and represents the reference for the other brands: “We must have a good mentality and know that we cannot push 100% and I am talking to Ducati to solve this problem. It is also true that we achieve these results despite the problems, so imagine what we can do without them. The bike has enormous potential, but at the moment we need to be very calm with the tyres. If problems arise immediately at the start of the race, it's hard to manage.”