Jorge Martin on sprint mistake: “I still don’t know why I crashed”

Jorge Martin saw his lead of 39 points heading into the Italian MotoGP slashed to 18 by Francesco Bagnaia, who completed the home double.

Running third in the sprint race and on course for a comfortable podium, Martin crashed out after losing the front-end of his GP24 machine.

Martin put it right on Sunday as he claimed P3 in the grand prix, however, the world championship leader lost further points when he was overtaken on the final lap [last corner] by Bastianini.

Martin has only crashed twice in races this season, but both times Bagnaia has taken full advantage by winning.

Discussing his sprint fall, Martin said: “I still don’t know why I crashed. Sometimes this happens and it’s not the first time we have seen it.

“It happened to me in Jerez, happened to Pecco in Montmelo in the sprint. We have to solve this problem because crashing without knowing why is not good for your confidence.”

While crashes need to be eradicated, not just for Martin but Bagnaia who has also lost huge amounts of points due to individual errors, Martin did come away from the weekend happy despite losing a big chunk of his lead.

After a difficult Saturday, Martin and his Pramac Ducati team made big changes to his GP24 bike, something the Spaniard does not like doing normally.

“I am happy that; normally my strategy is to not touch the bike and to leave it how it is and understand how to be fast, but from yesterday [Saturday] to today I had to make a big change and finally, it was worth it for sure,” said Martin.

“This gave me and my crew chief more confidence for the future to make different moves and to fit the bike at different race tracks, and also to not be afraid of making those moves.

“I took a lot of positives from this weekend and you take positives from difficult times.

“It was the most difficult weekend of the season and I’m here on the podium. I am super happy.”