Jorge Martín strengthened his lead in the MotoGP World Championship at the Catalan GP, but took no victories in Barcelona. After finishing fourth in yesterday’s Sprint race, he was second in Sunday’s main race behind Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
For the current championship leader, the progress compared to yesterday was the main reason for satisfaction: ‘I am very happy today. The thing I’m most happy about is that yesterday my real position was seventh, and today we are here in second place. This means we are definitely going in the right direction. We are fast every Sunday, so it’s important for me‘.
In a press conference, Martín then summed up his race: ‘I didn’t have the best start, but I followed the best strategy into the first corner, on the outside. On the first lap I was already third, then I managed to overtake Pedro [Acosta] and also Pecco in turn 10, but maybe when I had Pedro behind I wanted to stay first, so maybe I pushed a little too much. Even though I was saving tire, it wasn’t enough as we could see‘.
Regarding his duel with Bagnaia, the Spaniard commented that, by responding to the overtake, he ended up compromising the tyre: ‘When Pecco caught me, I was trying to be relaxed, because I think I was riding well, with a good pace. As soon as he passed me, I tried to follow him, but I destroyed the rear tire‘.
Finally, Martín declared: ‘In general we need to improve our weak points, today I was able to see where they are. I feel like we are going in the right direction, but there is still something missing here in Montmeló‘.
