George Martin et Francis Bagnaia engage in a titanic duel for the world title in MotoGP, and after the near overall equality in Indonesia, the The Japanese Grand Prix turned to the Italian's advantage.
Poorly qualified, the Spaniard nevertheless limited the damage somewhat, conceding only 11 points to the reigning world champion, and maintaining a 10-point lead in the general classification.
With four rounds to go and 148 points still to be distributed, no more mistakes are allowed, on either side, and George Martin even comes to consider a final in Valencia with equal points...
As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the post-race press conference of the Japanese Grand Prix at Mobility Resort Motegi, round 16 complete, and it’s a double victory in the Sprint and the Grand Prix for Ducati Lenovo rider Pecco Bagnaia, of course the reigning World Champion. Second from the 4th row of the grid, Jorge Martin for Prima Pramac Racing, and completing the podium, a second podium of the weekend for Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez. Gentlemen, congratulations to all three!
Now let’s move on to second place, Jorge Martin. Jorge, it’s never easy to get on the podium in MotoGP on the front row of the grid, so starting from the 4th row is always a difficult race. It’s a fantastic race for you, second place in this Grand Prix, you pushed very hard to put pressure on Pecco, but as you started 11th, you must be very happy…
George Martin : “Yes, for sure I am happy. I could be a bit happier if I was in front of Pecco, but today the goal was to be on the podium and we achieved it. I had a good start, but not as good as yesterday, so I had to recover a lot of positions to pass Marc, Enea and Brad. It was difficult, they are super strong under braking, so I had to take more risks than yesterday, but then the pace was good, I was a bit faster than yesterday. And yes, the main problem was when I closed the gap to Pecco and I was less than half a second: I started to have problems with the front, as we all know, so it was quite difficult. But even then I never gave up, I tried, I tried, and yeah, there were three or four laps to go when I was very close, but I got really hot in turn 3 and I said "OK, it's time to stop". I did a good job, so I have to be happy with second place."
You did that 1'45.0 on lap 21 and the gap was reduced: did you think at any point, Jorge, that you had the pace to close it and maybe attack?
“Yeah, sure. As soon as I started to close the gap, I saw that Pecco was a bit wide in Turn 11 twice, so I said "OK, it also pushes 100%". We weren't very close, so I never had the chance to do anything, but I saw that I put a little pressure on him by trying to force him, but he was super strong and very smart.
Quickly guys, before we go to media questions, we saw our first world champion crowned today, Moto3 star David Alonso. I know we're all big fans of his here. I know all three of you are. And you Jorge? You must be very impressed by what Alonso has done this year…
“Yes, for sure. Congratulations to him and his team. I know the team from my time at Aspar, so I’m very happy for them.
Yesterday I found him in the elevator going to his room to sleep and he was still asking me how to do it, when he certainly didn't need advice. But yes, he already knew his strategy. He is very intelligent and I think he is very mature for his age. So I think that in less than three years he will be fighting with us in MotoGP."
It seems like the brakes are at their limit on this track. Do you think anything needs to be done to reduce speed or aerodynamics, or to be more efficient with the brakes?
"For me, I didn't have any problems with braking, so maybe I have to brake a little bit later (smiles) because everything was fine. I think we brake even later than other seasons, and I didn't have any problems, so it's not the main problem for me."
2024 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix Results at Motegi:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
