Jorge Martin “sad about today, don’t want a mistake like that again”
Jorge Martin: "I had a great start, I defended the lead, I felt strong and then..."
Swept into the early MotoGP title lead by five podiums in six races, Jorge Martin extended his advantage to 29 points with a second Sprint victory of the season at Jerez.
The Pramac Ducati rider was firmly in the hunt for a perfect double when he took the lead of the Sunday grand prix on lap 2.
But reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia kept pressure on the young Spaniard, who made his first real mistake of the season when he lost the front under braking for the Turn 6 hairpin and crashed out of the lead on lap 11 of 25.
“I am sad about today. I had a great start, I defended the lead of the race, I felt strong and then… I had a crash which I cannot explain how it happened. I will analyse the data with my team because I don’t want to make a mistake like that again,” Martin said.
“That has been just a bad day and what makes me feel good is to know that I am in a great team and we will find a solution also to this problem. Actually, it is good to have the test tomorrow so I can be back on track, figure out what happened and keep improving.”
Martin’s mistake means his title lead has been reduced to 17 points, ahead of new nearest rival Bagnaia, who won the race after fending off Marc Marquez.
The #89 wasn’t the only Pramac Ducati in the gravel on Sunday with team-mate Franco Morbidelli crashing out after a clash while trying to pass Jack Miller for 11th at half-distance.
“Even if I lost a few positions at the beginning, I was fast enough to overtake riders and I collected a few of the quickest laps during the race, that shows how confident I was,” said Morbidelli.
“Then I crashed because I still have to learn so much about the bike, mainly on the duels.
“I am so glad to do the test tomorrow because I can finally spend more time on the bike and that will be very important in order to take an important step forward.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
