Jorge Martín made Francesco Bagnaia work hard for his victory in the MotoGP Malaysian GP, ultimately settling for second place, which also served his ambitions of becoming champion.
The Prima Pramac rider felt he minimized his losses against his rival and admitted he relaxed after seeing Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) crash out: ‘I’m super happy, I think we lost the minimum possible – maybe I could have also crashed, so I’m happy about this. But I think when Marc crashed, I relaxed a bit too much. So, I said: «Second is enough, just keep going like this»’.
Later, Martín saw an opportunity to challenge Bagnaia (Ducati) for the lead again, but he ultimately held back after a near-fall during his pursuit:
– Then I saw Pecco was also closing a bit, so I thought: «Maybe if I attack, I can close the gap». And then I started to get closer – 0.4s in one lap I think. Then, I kept pushing, and I saw that he was also struggling, he went wide – because the track conditions were so difficult. But then, I went a bit wide at turn 9 and I almost crashed. So, it’s the same as Japan, I said: «That’s enough, second is perfect, and let’s see next time».