MotoGP Australia Day 3, Debriefing Jorge Martin (Ducati/2): "I said to myself "wow, he's aggressive!"", etc. (full)

With pole position, victory in the Sprint and a 2nd place in Sunday's race, George Martin almost had a perfect weekend at Phillip Island for the Grand Prix MotoGP from Australia, but despite this, he only increased his championship lead by 10 points against Francis Bagnaia.

Did you say intense? With three rounds left in the season, and with 111 points still to be distributed, everything remains open…

As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.

OK ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the post-race press conference, here at the end of a thrilling Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, which this superb circuit delivered once again. Congratulations on a tough race to Gresini Racing rider Marc Marquez, as Marc took his third win of the season. Second place, and extending his lead over the World Champion to 20 points, was Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin. And the podium was completed by Ducati Lenovo Team rider, reigning World Champion Pecco Bagnaia. Gentlemen, congratulations to all three!

2nd place for Jorge Martin of Prima Parmac Racing. Jorge came very close to a pole position triple yesterday, to the sprint victory, and he made the difference by racing again in this Grand Prix today. How satisfied are you to have doubled your lead over the world champion this weekend?
George Martin : “Yes, thank you. For sure, I can’t say that I’m not happy with the way the weekend went. After having pole position here, and then winning yesterday, today I wanted to win for sure. But the feeling wasn’t the same as yesterday with the rear tyre. I had trouble putting the power to the ground, and so I couldn’t open up a gap with Pecco and Marc, who also improved compared to yesterday. And yes, the race was still quite strong. There were moments when I thought it was going to be difficult: I almost crashed in the first corner and they caught me, and immediately Pecco passed me. I had to change my mindset a bit, I started pushing a lot, and yes, even when Marc passed me at the end, I tried to come back, I tried to win the race, but for sure my chances of winning were less and I think I made the most of this weekend.

You show today that you are willing to take a lot of risks, Jorge, you are leading the world championship. Tell us about the crucial moment of the overtaking at Turn 4, because when Marc passed you shook your head. Did you think it was good, or was it a tough move?
“Well, I thought ‘wow, he’s aggressive!’ but you know, I knew it was going to be Turn 4. You know, I was riding pretty good, but I don’t know why, I was only listening to him in Turn 4, so I knew. I was struggling with the front on the right side. From the fifth or sixth lap, I started struggling with the front, so it was really difficult. But I knew he had something more, maybe not in terms of speed, but in terms of the risks he could take, or the risks I could take. So for me, second position is OK today, and I think we did a good job this weekend.”

As I said, you have doubled your lead in the championship, going from 10 to 20 points…
“For sure I will take every opportunity that comes my way to increase my lead. It was good to have a little battle with Pecco because normally he is in front and he pulls away, or I am in front and I pull away. So in the end, at least we fought for a lap and I enjoyed that. But anyway, I lost 11 points last week, I gained 10 here, and next week, we don’t know, so yeah, you have to focus on every race.”

The next two races will be held in very different conditions, with warm weather. How do you see the battle between the two of you?
“For me, I don’t know. Every race, every year is different. Last year I was very competitive in the last part of the season. So you know, I think we will be like always: Pecco, me, Marc and Enea, I think all four of us always have the possibility to win. From my side, it’s already very good to be able to fight for the championship with Pecco, to fight for the races with Marc, so I will try again in Thailand.”