Jorge Martín’s reaction to his retirement at the Spanish MotoGP was as good as it could be. This weekend, the Prima Pramac rider was consistently at the front throughout the French GP, securing victory in Sunday’s main race after being the strongest in the Sprint race and qualifying.
After this strong performance, the Spaniard admitted he didn’t expect to be at this level in Le Mans: ‘It’s the fourth time I did the record, the Sprint and Sunday. For sure is not easy, you need to be in a great shape and I’m really happy about this. Riding here, we were here seated in the same position almost since Thursday and I didn’t expect to do these results, so I’m really happy about this’.
Regarding his approach to the race, Martín commented: ‘I didn’t made the best start, but I think going behind Pecco was a nice strategy because I was studying him, trying to let the laps through, to try to be on a good tyre pressure because with these cold conditions maybe he was dropping a bit. So I was confident behind him. And then with seven or eight laps to go, I said: «Okay, it’s time to make the move». I tried the first time, I couldn’t make it stick, I was a bit wide, so he could attack back. And then the second time I did perfectly, I took the risk to brake a bit more. It was a bit on the limit, but I am super happy that I could make it’.
The final phase of the race was physically demanding for the championship leader, as he mentioned: ‘The last five laps were so long. I tried to push, I was a bit tired because it’s a really long race and with this wind changing a bit from yesterday, so it was difficult. But I was able to make this small gap so they couldn’t attack back’.
When he was still in second place, Martín was targeted by Márquez, and he spoke about that phase of the race: ‘For sure I knew Marc was behind. I saw [Fabio] DiGia was dropping, so I sad: «I’m quite okay here behind Pecco». Then I saw even Marc was in two seconds, but at the moment we started to fight a bit, then he took almost one second in one lap. So I said: «Okay, I need to make the move [on Bagnaia] and try to push, because if not Marc will arrive and maybe I finish third, not even second». So I knew he was coming, that’s why I tried to make the move as fast as possible to try to put my pace and to try make this small gap’.