Securing his first pole position since 2024, Jorge Martín expected to be in contention for the win, but encountered problems with his Aprilia.
Jorge Martín He didn't achieve the sprint race he'd hoped for at Assen this Saturday. Slightly behind the other Aprilia riders, he unexpectedly... went to seek the pole position, his first since the Australian Grand Prix in 2024 and he was the first to be surprised.
“I wasn’t expecting to fight for pole position. I thought I could be on the first two rows, but not get pole. This weekend, I tried to work a lot on my own because when you have to do testing, it’s important to understand precisely what’s happening on the bike without external reference points. I also wanted to do the qualifying lap alone and I think I did a good job.”, he said during his debriefing.
Naturally, his performance raised his expectations, and although he knew he was slightly slower than his teammate Marco Bezzecchi, he admitted he expected to be fighting for the win. However, a grip issue completely dictated his race. Overtaken lap after lap by the other Aprilia riders and by Fabio Di Giannantonio, he found himself fifth at the halfway point and had to fight to keep the two factory Ducati riders behind him until the finish.
"After qualifying, I was very happy."he said. “Being back on pole position after almost two years was a special feeling. I was super happy and felt ready for the race. At the start, I felt good in the first few corners. I thought I could fight for the win, but then I realized I had no rear grip and from then on, I struggled until the end. Lap after lap, the situation worsened. Finally, I tried to hold my position. In the last three laps, it was difficult to keep both Ducatis behind me.”
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I had no rear grip. I had no traction and I started to struggle. It’s part of the learning process with the Aprilia. We change a lot of things on the bike: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Today we didn’t find the right solution, so tomorrow we’ll try again and see.”
Results of the sprint race of the Dutch Grand Prix :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
