Fifth Place in Both the Sprint and Grand Prix — Jorge Martin Opens Up About a Lack of Front-Wheel Grip — Championship Lead Over Marquez Shrinks to 19 Points
Although Jorge Martin was among the leaders at MotorLand Aragon, he was unable to fight for a podium finish on his own. He finished fifth in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, while his Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi made the podium in both races.
“To be honest,” says Martin, “I think this is one of our worst tracks, and yet we’re still battling closely with the Ducatis here. That’s why I feel like we’re definitely in a good position.”
Nevertheless, after the Sprint, he noted that fifth place was “more” than he had expected. Overall, it was a difficult weekend for the Spaniard.
There was one main problem: “I don’t feel much grip. Maybe I need to practice more flat-track riding, because honestly, I feel like I’m constantly sliding. I don’t really feel comfortable on the bike.”
“I need to figure it out. I just need more grip on the front wheel. In the first few laps, I feel good because the tires are fresh. But as soon as the grip starts to fade, it’s hard for me to keep up the pace.”
“I have a good feel for the front wheel. The problem is that the grip is fading. I’m losing grip more and more. I think the bike is working really well. I just need to get better at riding with less and less grip.”
In the Grand Prix, Martin benefited from a mistake by Marc Marquez during the start. The Ducati factory rider forgot to deactivate the ride-height system after the first corner. This caused a bit of chaos.
Martin took advantage of the confusion and moved up to second place, but he was overtaken by Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta on the very first lap. On the second lap, he also fell back behind Alex Marquez.
From then on, it was a lonely race for Martin in fifth place. “It was difficult, but no different than I expected,” he said of his race. “I tried to stay optimistic.”
“Maybe I could have done a little better with a good start. But I couldn’t. The top 5 was the best I could do, and I’m satisfied that I achieved that.”
“Overall, grip was my limiting factor throughout the entire weekend. I tried a lot of things to deal with the grip. I think I felt a little better toward the middle or end of the race.”
“As I said before, the top 5 was the best I could do. I took the points. I’d rather do that than risk crashing. I think that’s exactly what I need to do right now.“
”Maybe I’ll have to take more risks in the next few races, but not in this one,” says Martin. He retained the championship lead, but his advantage over Marc Marquez, who is now in second place, shrank to 19 points.
Is he worried that the reigning world champion is closing the gap more and more? “I’m working on improving every day. I’m still in the lead, so I must be doing something right,” Martin replies to this question.
