Still sharp in qualifying, Jorge Martín was however unable to do anything against an unleashed Aleix Espargaró in qualifying. The Pramac driver can still be satisfied with a second place on the grid which will offer him an excellent launching pad for the race.
We transcribe here all of his remarks made during the post-qualifying press conference.
Jorge, we thought for a long time that your last flying lap would be enough to take pole position, but in the end Aleix Espargaró beat you to the post. It seems that you returned to your settings from last year, which was beneficial to you, because we will have to count on you tomorrow in the race...
« It's true that when I saw a time of 1'37.8 on my dashboard, I have to admit that I didn't expect anyone to manage to beat this mark. But Aleix did it, and I'm really happy for him because I know how hard he worked. I am still very confident for tomorrow, we are back to last year's settings. I also think I have room to progress. The warm up was extended, and now it's as long as a free practice session, so that's something good. I think that during qualifying I really took a step forward, because before that in the day I had a little difficulty finding the limit. I think this is our best weekend so far this year. So I am confident for tomorrow. »
You've had some bad luck so far in 2022, and you still haven't scored any points. You actually gave up during the first two rounds. We imagine you impatient to redeem yourself…
« It will already be important for me to finish the race, simply to gain a little more confidence for the next events. When you don't score a point and you fall, there are always doubts that arise. But I think with hindsight that for example during the first race I couldn't do anything [in Qatar, Martín had to abandon after being mowed down by the Ducati of Pecco Bagnaia, who had just lost the front while he was trying to go inside a corner], and during the second the track was wet. So let's hope that we can finish this time, and in a good position at that. »
