Jorge Martín is a restless ass, and his best remedy for not going crazy in the periods between races is to keep himself very busy. During this summer break, however, it has been more difficult than expected for him to forget about competition altogether after his mistake at the German GP, where he fell from the lead in the race and the World Championship that he had dominated throughout the first part of the season. He enjoyed the boat, his friends and his family on the beaches of Ibiza, but even so he had flashes of that bitter fall. It has been, then, three long weeks for the Madrid contender, for better and for worse. For now, he has been the only one capable of standing up to an imperial Pecco Bagnaia, winner of the last four long races before the summer break and a rival to beat for the rest of the riders in the MotoGP return to school.
Veteran Aleix Espargaró, who just turned 35 and was the author of the polewas the first to challenge the Italian’s command. Enea Bastianini, the championship leader’s teammate in the official Ducati team, was however the strongest in a sprint The championship was marked by the falls of Bagnaia himself and Marc Márquez. The slip-ups of both leaders gave even more wings to a Martín who was satisfied with second place in the short race, after having stumbled with the yellow flags in a timed race that ended fourth. This restart of the championship serves to recharge his batteries and finally scare away his summer ghosts.
“I feel very confident coming back like this, if there was any doubt about Sachsenring I have already removed it. Today was about building on what we had before Germany,” said the Pramac rider from Madrid. “The truth is that it was hard for me to forget. I couldn’t stop training during the holidays, I felt bad about myself for having made that mistake,” he admitted upon his arrival at Silverstone. In addition to working hard on a physical level, the Spaniard focused on analysing in detail the falls that cost him a lead that he is once again just one point behind after Bagnaia’s setback and Saturday’s podium in England. It turns out that he always lost the front end in very similar situations, when he also controlled the races in Germany and Jerez, as well as in the sprint from the Netherlands.
A specific part that he had been using since last year, and that no other Ducati rider was using at this stage, seems to be the origin of his problems controlling the front end when riding alone at the front. At Silverstone it was removed and, to his relief, he does not seem to have lost any speed on the asphalt. Martín, who already made unforced errors in the tight fight for the title last year, has emphasized his mental work this year, redoubling his efforts with the psychologist. The objective is to beat himself up less and try to see the glass half full even in the worst of situations. Also to firmly believe in his chances of winning the title and in his abilities.
“In my opinion, I have lost the lead more than Pecco has gained it. Of course he has had incredible races, like in Mugello or Assen, but in Germany the mistake was mine. I think we are on par in terms of speed and perhaps it is more a matter of mind. I hope to be ready to be able to fight until the end,” he analysed. Martín defined his version of the past as armoured. He locked himself in and believed himself strong enough to overcome any challenge. Now he has opened up more and relaxed even in his appearances before the press, also abandoning the bad habit of getting upset by certain headlines.
When he lost the title in the last race of 2023 in Valencia, Martín immediately realised his mistake and worked to remedy it. “I stopped enjoying myself and winning became an obsession,” he confessed to this newspaper the day after finishing the season. “Together with my psychologist we have worked on important things that I think made me weaker, have more doubts or try to control things. And things are as they are, you have to accept them and be calmer,” he added at the start of the current campaign. With Márquez and Bastianini still far away from thinking about the title, he is once again the only one in a position to stop Bagnaia. This Sunday (2:00 p.m., DAZN), he will have the opportunity to bury the episodes of Sachsenring and Jerez if he beats the Italian and regains the lead.
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