Jorge Martin: “Marc Marquez saw me, released the brakes”

The incident left both riders on the ground, officially ending Martin’s fading title hopes and sending Marc Marquez to the medical centre after being flipped into a huge highside.

Martin had been frantically trying to recover places after an earlier scare with title rival Francesco Bagnaia, the Pramac rider clipping the back of Bagnaia’s race-leading bike after being 'sucked in' under braking at Turn 1.

14 points behind Bagnaia at the start of Sunday's race, even if Martin won he also needed Bagnaia out of the top five to snatch the crown away from the reigning champion.

“The strategy was to go into first place as soon as possible and maybe then try to do a slow race [and back the field up]. I thought it was too early to be in first position, so I waited a little bit. But the problem was I got sucked by his slipstream and I almost hit him,” Martin told MotoGP.com.

“Then I was far behind and tried to recover positions. I was the fastest at that moment on the track.”

• Valencia MotoGP: Final 2023 World Championship standings
• Valencia MotoGP: Results
• Valencia Moto2: Results
• Valencia Moto3: Results

Rejoining in eighth, Martin passed Alex Marquez before losing further time in a battle that made “no sense” with Maverick Vinales.

“Afterwards, I started battling with Maverick. I didn't understand why he was overtaking back, because he knew I was battling for a championship, so was no sense. But it's what it is.”

It was moments after finally getting clear of the Aprilia rider, on lap 6 of 27, that Martin made what appeared to be an optimistic lunge inside Marc Marquez.

But Martin was adamant that the eight-time world champion - whose front wheel had brushed against Martin’s shoulder in a role reversal move during yesterday’s Sprint battle - knew he was there and had “released the brakes”.

“With Marc, I mean it's nothing I can do. He saw I was on the inside and then he released the brakes. I'm not saying it's his fault, but it's not mine [either]. A race situation. So hopefully I will speak with him soon, I feel like I have to and we can solve this problem.”

Marquez, who previously tipped Martin to win the title battle, also came under fire from Marco Bezzecchi, who was knocked down after opening lap contact with the #93.

Meanwhile, after some initial tears in the team garage, Martin is proud to have made history with Pramac this season, as the first satellite rider to take a ‘MotoGP’ title fight down to the last round.

“I'm happy, even if you don't believe me!” he said. “I think we made history being on a satellite team. I'm so proud of my team.

“Coming into Valencia 21 points behind was really difficult. I think after yesterday's result we thought [the title] was possible, but Pecco showed today that he was stronger…

“Congratulations to Pecco,” Martin said. “He's done an outstanding job. The first part of the season he was incredibly fast. I think nobody was able to catch him, just in Germany.

“But then afterwards the Barcelona crash, he was able to keep a really good level, even if he was not at 100%. Even if he was struggling with the bike, he was fast. So I feel like they did an amazing job and we have to learn from our mistakes and improve next season."

Marc Marquez will join Bagnaia and Martin in riding a Ducati next season, albeit a GP23 at the Gresini team.