MotoGP, Martin and his double pass: “I was afraid of crashing: to win you must take risks”

SuperMartinator. Saturday at the Sachsenring exalted the qualities of the Spaniard from Pramac Racing, who proved to be so irrepressible in the Sprint race as to conquer all the accolades. The Iberian could hardly have imagined a better start, with a cut and thrust performance that left only the crumbs to the competition.

“I'm excited about this first day - he began - it was a tough Sprint, but we still managed to bring home the best result, I had great confidence. At the beginning I battled with Pecco, and I came close to crashing, but managed to stay on the bike".

Then there was that double pass…

“I didn’t expect to make the move on both, I saw Pecco was going to make the move also, but they were coming so fast, so I said, Okay, let's try - I almost lose the front, it was quite, quite close to a crash! - I go in and manage the situation, stay on the bike and from that point I started to put my pace on the track. Then another big moment, on corner seven… but I could stay on the bike and managed the speed until the end”.

In Germany the Pramac rider is now dreaming of an encore.

“Now my target is to win Sunday, that’s for sure, but even though I prefer to make a podium or points and not to crash, I’m not thinking about the championship at this point, just trying to be fast every weekend, at the moment we are doing it. But I'm confident even if tomorrow's race will be a long one. To tell the truth, however, I had more confidence for Saturday's race than Sunday. There are factors to consider, one above all the tyres. Today, after 7 laps, the rear tyre was starting to wear out. So, I have to work in terms of electronics and set-up. I'm more sorry for qualifying, because the yellow flag affected me: I could have been on pole."

In this 2023 Martin has made a significant leap forward and it seems quite evident.

“The Portimao accident in the first year affected my growth, but after that summer break I returned to racing. Last year I was not 100% with the package. Now, however, I'm at 100% and I have a competitive bike with which I feel better and better".

Who knows if he might not be the anti-Bagnaia in the battle for the title.

“We are only at the beginning of the Championship and there are a lot of races to go from here to the end. I am convinced that when we go to Asia we will struggle, but for now we must continue this path. I'm fit, I have the right confidence with the bike, and we need to give it our all, just like we're doing."