MotoGP | Martin: “Vinales is dangerous, but also Pecco and Marc”

The points are awarded on Sunday (now also on Saturday in reality), but finishing the first day of the Grand Prix of the Americas, on a circuit that the Prima Pramac Racing driver has never loved, by beating the track record, gave a great start to Jorge Martin.

In what was only Jorge Martín's second outing in the afternoon session, with 12 minutes to go, the Spaniard put in a perfect lap, bringing his inseparable testing partner Aleix Espargaro with him. While the Ducati rider set a time of 2'01″397, his Aprilia colleague was four tenths behind to move up from the bottom of the standings and ensure direct qualification for Q2.

The record, until now in the hands of Pecco Bagnaia after last year's pole position (2'01″892), did not fall by a thousandth of a second, but by a good half a second.

“I think it was a very good lap,” admitted the Spaniard, without however calling it unbeatable, as he believes it could have been even better. “I still have a little margin,” he admitted.

However, even with this small margin, Martin does not see himself with pole position in his pocket.

“I can improve a little, but there will be other very fast riders. But I will focus on myself, because I feel confident, we haven't changed anything on the bike since Portimao”, where he obtained third place in the Sprint and won the race on Sunday, scoring 32 points which put him at the top of the general classification of the MotoGP World Championship.

Despite this, Martin does not want to be complacent and sees some riders who could be very dangerous this weekend, given how Friday went. “Of course I think that Maverick Viñales is very fast, but Pecco and Marc are also very fast for sure,” he warned.

Regarding the circuit record, the Spaniard admitted that “of course it's always nice to beat them, but I prefer to do well in qualifying rather than take records”, in reference to the fight for pole.

Jorge Martín, Pramac Racing

Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images