Jorge Martin: Like in Indonesia, Winning a Race With a Difference of 0.7 or 3 Seconds is the Same

RiderTua.com – Jorge Martin was not affected by the pressure put on by Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini. The Pramac Ducati rider actually used his speed in sector one just to create a gap. With Pecco Bagnaia falling at Turn 5 after making contact with Marc Marquez which resulted in the Italian rider failing to score points, Martin has now taken over the leadership of the standings for the third time in his career.

“I’m very proud of the work we did all weekend. I knew that with the medium rear tire, I would have felt a lot better. I was really committed to leading and I knew today was the key to being on the front foot. Leading in laps “The first step is the key to victory,” said Martin.

Jorge Martin: Like in Indonesia, winning a race with a difference of 0.7 or 3 seconds is the same

How did Martin win the Portuguese GP? The rider from Madrid, Spain, revealed that he was able to manage the rear tire in the first few laps and the gap was small. Then once he started pushing, he noticed the gap was always the same. But Martin knows that he has margin to slowly widen the gap.

Franco Morbidelli’s teammate explained, “At 0.7 seconds I was a little more relaxed and I knew that this was a good gap until the end. I know, like in Indonesia winning the race with a difference of 0.7 or 3 seconds is the same. So just 0.7 seconds is enough.”

When asked about the incident between fellow Ducati riders Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, Martin admitted that he had different thoughts in his head, the latter involving winning at all costs to gain points in the race for the title.

Martinator answered, “About that incident I saw it on the monitor screen and at that time I thought ‘okay, Jorge you have to finish 100 percent. I was quite slow in some corners, but then I said to myself that I have to win. It doesn’t matter whether I finish or not, I just have to win. That corner is a bit tricky. It’s just racing.”

After experiencing vibration problems during pre-season testing and at the Qatar GP, Martin admitted that he felt less of this problem throughout this weekend, especially in the main race. On the other hand, when sprinting he felt the problem more. “We need to understand the reasons, but we suffer more when we press at the start than when we can be smooth in the first lap,” he said.

“Today in the first lap I was quite smooth and we were fast. I was very relaxed. When I started to push, I thought that the vibrations would come. But we have to check it for Saturday because now the sprint is our weakness. We have to focus on that and try to fix it,” concluded Jorge Martin.