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Jorge Martin's measured victory in Portimao, which placed him firmly at the top of the standings with 60 points, a good 18 points behind the first of the pursuers Binder, is the mirror of a season that is set to be really hard-fought. The Spaniard now appears calmer and more aware of his strengths, and the excellent results achieved so far are but further arrows to his bow in pursuit of the official team's goal. A saddle that the Spaniard feels he deserves and the rider market is already beating the first heavy blows, but to get it he will have to fight hard with thick antagonists, and Marquez is among them. Rumors of a move from the Pramac team to Yamaha do not faze him, whatever happens it seems the Spaniard sees only the official in his future.
"I am really happy with this start of the season ," Martin explains, "we are doing a great job. My goal is to do better than last year, because last season I had several difficulties. It will be a good challenge because there are many strong contenders on this track for this weekend but the expectations are very good. COTA is a very physical track, last year I was not in the best shape I also had some fever, so I hope to do better this year."
We saw you in the past week training a lot on the bike together with Aleix Espargarò. Additional training to prepare you for the stage here in Austin?
"These two weeks have been great to recover fitness and train, but also to take a break during the season. With Aleix we decided to participate in this bike race, it was a fluke but I never stopped training."
What do you think about the arrival of Liberty Media in MotoGP as well?
"I think it is very good news for MotoGP. I also talked to Carlos Ezpeleta and he was very pleased, if he was too then it means that it is very good news for everybody. I think it will also be a very good chance for us riders to make the sport even bigger."
The United States is also the homeland of Kevin Schwantz, one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport.
"I have a great relationship with Kevin; I've even been a guest at his house. He is a great rider, a legend. He struggled with a bike that maybe wasn't the most competitive, and that's why I've seen myself in him in the past. He is one of the greatest and on the track he is a guy who has balls."
There have been rumors in recent weeks that the Pramac team might switch to Yamaha next year. Do you feel more attached to Ducati or would you stay with your current team?
"This is the first time I've heard about it, at the moment I'm more attached to Ducati than to the Pramac team, it's been like that throughout my MotoGP career. I've already made my priority known to everyone, but it's still early to address that. I hope to move to a factory team so even if this change happens I would not be here."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
