MotoGP | Martin: “Victory close, but Enea was smarter”

Even the long race at Silverstone seemed almost a carbon copy of Saturday’s sprint race, with Jorge Martin trying to escape before being overtaken decisively by Enea Bastianini in a state of grace on the British track. Just like yesterday, the first two positions bear the same name, with the Italian preceding the Spaniard, who also today tried to caress the victory before having to give way to the pace of his rival.

However, today the missed triumph was only missed by a few laps because, after taking the lead of the race from Francesco Bagnaia after a few laps, Martin tried to pull away, managing to gain a small margin while waiting for a battle that would probably have reopened during the final stages of the race.

However, that margin was not enough to contain the comeback of Enea Bastianini, very good at managing the tires after having remained in the leading positions for the entire first part of the race. This led him, as on Saturday, to be able to play for the stage victory, finding the decisive overtaking two laps from the end, but not so much for a decisive maneuver, but more for a mistake by Martin himself, who ended up wide on turn three.

“Today it was fantastic to finish on the podium because I knew that Enea was stronger than in other races, I tried to stay with Pecco and manage the fuel consumption. When I saw that it was the right moment, I tried,” said the Spanish rider explaining the overtaking on Bagnaia after a more cautious first part of the race.

“Today I didn’t have any fuel problems, so I was behind Pecco for a couple of laps, also because Pecco was going fast. But that was the strategy, to stay a bit behind and then try to push. On the tires, I felt good on the front, while on the rear Enea was more intelligent and good.”

“We are always at the limit and as soon as I saw that Enea was catching me, I tried to keep the pace constant, managing the pace for the end, but today Enea was much stronger. Congratulations to Ducati and Enea because today they were at another level, but we have regained the championship lead”.

Even though the victory did not come, Martin has many reasons to be happy. First of all, he once again proved to be competitive, fighting even in the long race. Although it is true that half of the world championship is missing, thanks to today’s second place the Pramac rider managed to snatch the race leadership from Bagnaia again, regaining it after losing it in Germany due to the crash.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I am satisfied with my performance. It was a difficult race because we had to manage many things, a bit of fuel, a bit of tires, a bit of physicality. For this I am happy, I think I drove very well. I thought I could win, I wanted to, at least two laps from the end, but Enea was on another level today too. Congratulations to him, he deserves it. As far as I am concerned, I am happy, I have to continue working, but we are strong”.

The next stop is Austria, where Martin achieved his first MotoGP triumph. Last year he also showed a good pace in the race, so much so that he managed to climb up to third place in the sprint race, but what weighed most was his starting position, given that he started from the last spot on the fourth row. In such a tight world championship, every race, every single day has a very important specific weight, which is why you have to fight point by point and leave as little as possible on the road.

“Every day is key, you always have to be careful. We are always at the limit, we also saw Pecco who had a jolt when he was overtaken by Enea, because we go so fast that it takes a moment to fall.”

“I really like Austria as a track, I got my first win in MotoGP. I am confident, last year I started from the back but I had a good fantastic. Hopefully we can fight for the win,” said Martin.