MotoGP, Martin throws away the leadership: "My mistake was to run one metre wide and then I crashed"

Not even the time to take the lead of the championship, and Jorge Martin took two steps back. From hero to zero in the space of twenty-four hours, the Spaniard from the Pramac team suffered a crash in the long race at Mandalika which put him out of action, while his direct rival Pecco Bagnaia went on to win.

“It was perfect, a great start and then I was trying to make the gap a bit bigger. When I saw ‘2.8s’ I was really surprised. So I said ‘OK, it's time to maybe keep calm now’. I was a bit wide in corner 10 and it was a bit dirty, so when I went into 11, I lost the front doing the same as the lap before. But shit happens - declared Martin -  I was feeling super good… My mistake was to run one metre wide on the dirt and then the corner after I crashed. This was my mistake. I was still pushing. Still 14 laps to go, so I was still focused on being fast… But I felt I was running in a safe mode, let's say. I think I did an amazing race until that point. I am the fastest at the moment, so I have to be calm and there are still 10 races to go. So still a long way.”

After having rated both his Ducati and the soft tyre on the front with flying colours, the 25-year-old tried to take the incident philosophically, recalling that the last time he retired was at the COTA round in Austin. “It’s been 14 races without a mistake. It’s just statistics. It was coming sooner or later and finally it was here. So, the races still remaining I feel confident to fight for victory.”

His main opponent in the battle will be the reigning world champion, today the protagonist of a good comeback from 13th place. “I didn’t know at that point that he was already third. I was just trying to make my own race. Yeah, I'm impressed about his comeback but we all know that Pecco on Sundays is a bit stronger and he did an amazing job. I'm again the guy chasing, so now I hope he’s a bit scared again!”

Finally, a comment about the next round in Australia, where the temperatures will be significantly lower. “We will have other compounds, so there won't be any problems,” he downplayed.