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Jorge Martin archived the weekend in Aragon with a smile, leaving the Spanish circuit at the top of the world championship with a lead of 23 points over his rival Bagnaia, protagonist today of a contact with Alex Marquez that earned him a heavy zero in view of the championship. The Spaniard from Madrid was unable to do anything against an uncatchable Marc Marquez, who concluded a perfect weekend by taking the pole, and winning the Sprint and Grand Prix.
Jorge Martin, on his sixth consecutive second step on the podium, thus praised the feat of his compatriot who returned to winning after an absence that lasted more than two years. However, his eyes remain on the title race, locked in a duel with Bagnaia that will be fought out precisely on errors and that has all the flavor of a personal revenge.
The possibility then, at this tangible moment, is to see at the end of the year the #1 on the fairing abandon Ducati red for Aprilia black, the color Martin will wear next year. The points available in this second half of the season, however, are still a lot, and the world championship is therefore still wide open. Next stop is the double round in Misano, where the Madrilenian made a full house last year by starting a comeback over Bagnaia that kept the world championship open until Valencia.
This weekend Marc seemed uncatchable, but going to Misano after second place and with a big lead in the standings must have made your weekend here in Aragon very positive.
"Yes, first of all I would like to congratulate Marc," Jorge Martin began, "he came from a long difficult period and he deserved this victory. He was really competitive this weekend and he was unbeatable. As for me, I tried to reduce the gap to him in every session, I tried to learn as much as I could from him. In the first outing in free practice he had a one-second margin and little by little I tried to shorten it but not enough. In the race I also tried to push him to make a mistake but it was pointless, in the end I was ten seconds behind him and even finishing the race without making mistakes myself was not easy. Obviously starting in front made the difference, I gave it my all. It was a solo race for most of the time, a very good second place and valuable points for the championship, so it was a positive weekend."
You struggled with Acosta's KTM in the early laps, did you get to see the contact between Alex Marquez and Bagnaia at the end of the race?
"It was a race where everything happened," continued the Spaniard, "I didn't get a very good start, the wheel was spinning like in Qatar last season. I was scared because I thought my rear tire had a problem. Instead, I passed Alex Marquez right away and started chasing Pedro's KTM. I saw him go wide at 7 and thought I could pass him at that point, but I risked a front-end lock and had to delay. Fortunately none of us crashed, so on the straight I had no problem getting the better of him and from there on I just had to manage the tires and the feeling on the track, but it was not an easy race."
After this victory is Marc a contender for the title?
"For sure if he keeps winning he can fight for the title, in the last races Enea seemed more competitive so things can evolve quickly. I think he has found a good base so it's not impossible that he can move up the standings."
Among the Ducatis you were one of the most competitive all weekend.
"In qualifying after the first crash I had to keep calm, in the past I would have come back with a different mentality and crashed again, so I think I have matured as a rider. Normally when I lack grip, I don't feel great, but I've improved in that aspect as well. With the exception of Marc's performance this weekend, I was more competitive than my rivals. But at the moment my main rival remains Bagnaia, it's important to try to be faster than him."
Did you have a chance to see the incident involving Alex and Pecco?
"I saw it, you should ask them, but for sure it's hard to make a judgment. At that point the track is very dirty, I think Alex couldn't lean more in that corner as it also happened to Joe Roberts in Moto2. Fortunately it looks like neither of them were hurt, because from the images they were involved really close to their bikes."
What did you think about at that moment?
"I thought about a thousand different things actually, I really had a thousand thoughts going around in my head and it was not easy to keep my concentration. Above all, being alone made the difference, if I had been busy fighting with other riders I wouldn't have had a chance to think about anything else, so I had to keep my concentration. This is also proof that I have taken a small step mentally."
Does this second place mean as much to you as a win, also considering the standings?
"No, a second place is a second place, it's not a win. It's been a while since I've taken a race victory, I was close in Germany, so I hope that in the coming weekends the feeling will be better again so I can get back to winning again."
This is your sixth consecutive second podium finish, is there also frustration?
"It doesn't give me any ego problems, I don't feel inferior to others for a second place, I'm calm about it."
Next weekend will be raced in Misano, you arrive there in a very different condition than last season, what are your expectations?
"Last year the Misano weekend was incredible, I won both races, but there is no point talking about it now, we will see what happens. The championship is in a different situation than the one I was in last year, but the mentality remains the same, which is to win and always push 100%. If I can get a win that would be perfect otherwise I will try to achieve what I can."
PH. ©Pier Luca Brunetti
