Jorge Martín finished second in yesterday’s MotoGP Emilia Romagna GP Sprint race, trailing Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati). The Prima Pramac rider lost the lead to his rival, but he was able to stay close and keep the pressure on, in a balanced contest.
Speaking to the press, the championship said he epects a real battle with the Italian: ‘Here even myself, I could follow him for a lot of laps and it wasn’t a problem – I was catching him. So I think maybe even being behind is better, I don’t know. The good thing is that if he overtakes me or I overtake him, we will see a bit more of a battle, not a rider pulling away. So this is good and I’m really looking forward to fight back’.
Regarding being one of the strongest riders, Martín added: ‘For sure it’s nice, because I thought here everybody would be fast and everybody would be on the pace. But we have even more gap than two weeks ago, it’s crazy how the stronger riders can make a big step. I thought this wouldn’t be possible; I was riding in the 1m31s for six laps, so this is crazy. I remember that two or three years ago that was the pole lap time, so this is great. I feel this is a new era, and I try to enjoy of being one of them’.
When asked if he expected better performance from the bike after racing at the same circuit for a second time, the Spaniard credited the riding for the improvements: ‘I think from the bike it’s completely the same. But I think as a rider, doing a test, if you work well – maybe in the test I wasn’t the fastest, but the steps I did in the test were really solid I think. So I think it’s more about our riding style, that we improve small things everywhere, because if not all the Ducatis would be doing this lap time. I think it’s more Pecco, me, and also Enea [Bastianini] in the Sprint race was super strong’.