“Too much risk” kept Jorge Martin out of Malaysian MotoGP lead
“I think I could get that first position but it was too much of a risk”
Jorge Martin believes he could have fought Francesco Bagnaia harder in the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix but “there was no sense” to take that risk.
The Pramac rider had his first opportunity to win the 2024 championship on Sunday at Sepang if he outscored Bagnaia by nine points.
Bagnaia ultimately won the grand prix after a thrilling early battle with Martin, who had to settle for a distant second.
Martin still leads the championship comfortably, with a 24-point gap meaning he needs to outscore Bagnaia by just two points in the sprint race at the final round to be crowned champion.
After being held at bay by Bagnaia in their early tussle, Martin planned to sit behind his Ducati rival for an attack later on - but found “everything started to work quite bad” on his bike while in dirty air.
“From my side maybe I had to be a bit more calm, but I felt I was able to fight with him,” Martin said.
“So, I tried it, but at some point I thought ‘Ok, it’s too much risk, so wait behind’.
“But the problem is, that as soon as I went behind him everything started to work quite bad.
“I also had Marc [Marquez] quite close, so I had to push. For sure, when Marc crashed it was a big relief for me because I had some space to Enea [Bastianini] and then I was trying to continue with focus, with a really good pace.
“And at some point I tried to recover to Pecco, but then I made a mistake at corner nine and I said ‘Ok, Jorge, that’s enough’.
“Was really physical also, I started to have some moments in the last three laps. So I just tried to make it till the end. Nice, important points for the championship.”
Martin added: “Everything was on his side to win today. He had to risk. I could have battled a little bit more, but there was no sense.
“I mean, I think I could get that first position but it was too much of a risk. I think that’s important, because in terms of riding style I think we were so, so close.
“I think there was no different at all. I think it was more on the mental side, and I think he had everything today to win.”
Martin put a bit of pressure on Bagnaia in the closing stages, as he reduced the lead from two seconds to 1.5s with four laps to go before making a mistake at Turn 9 on lap 16.
But before that point, Martin accepts that it was likely “almost impossible” he’d win as track position is too important in modern MotoGP now.
“Nowadays in MotoGP, if you are not on the lead on the first 10 laps - so the first half of the race - it is almost impossible to win it,” he said.
“But I never gave up, I always tried to the end. And it was similar to Japan. I was closing the gap.
“I closed maybe four tenths in one lap, I said ‘Ok, you can do it, at least put some pressure on him’. But I had this moment in corner nine and at this point I just tried to make it to the end.”
