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Gritting his teeth for all 11 laps of the Qatar Sprint Race, Jorge Martin put in his first race of the season and as Aprilia Racing team rider. Still not in the best physical condition following the injury that forced him to miss the first rounds of the year, the reigning World Champion can be satisfied with having managed to finish the race in 16th position, maintaining a steady pace despite the pain. Encouraging signs for the Spanish rider, who in the early stages of the race even took the liberty to battle with Francesco Bagnaia, his great opponent of recent seasons.
"It went decently, I did what I could. I'm happy with my start, because I got off to a good start, and I'm also happy with qualifying, because I was on the verge of getting into Q2. My physique is limiting me a lot, though. The first three or four laps I was doing well, because I was feeling good physically, but the moment I lost all the strength in my right arm I gave up and I just thought about getting to the end," Martin recounted. "In the first laps of the Sprint I had fun and I was able to pass some riders on the outside. Overtaking Pecco? I didn't expect that. That was not my usual position and neither was his. I thought he had some problems, that's why I passed him. But then I saw that wasn't the case when he passed me again. Still, it was a nice dip into the past to be able to pass Pecco in my first race. I felt good at that juncture of the race. I tried to follow Ogura and get ahead, until my physical condition blocked me, preventing me from being faster."
Was it just his physical condition or was it also tire degradation that affected Martinator in the final part?
"I think it was a little bit of everything: I don't know the bike, I don't know how it works and I'm riding in a way that maybe I don't agree with. What is certain is that I am using the tires a little more than usual. In addition, I don't have a great position in the saddle, because I'm not natural: I'm very tense and so I get much more tired at the muscular level," he noted. "The pain is not a big problem, but I think it's more because I'm trying to compensate with my right arm, since I injured my left. This is a circuit with 70 percent of the corners on the right, so it is more pronounced. But I think I would suffer physically even if I was okay, because I have to do now all the work on position and ergonomics that I was not able to do in preseason. Until I find my position, I will continue to suffer, and I have a lot of work to do on the position to not get tired and to be able to do as many laps in a row as I did last year."
The Aprilia rider's weekend so far has been one of a physical crescendo, but the 22 laps of the GP will be a big hurdle to face.
"Yesterday I did two laps in the morning and three in the evening. This morning I managed to do four and now I have completed 11, so my condition is improving with big steps forward, however, I am much more exhausted than yesterday. We will see how I wake up tomorrow, because this morning I woke up with more pain than on Friday. We have to go step by step, but I think the weekend can already be considered a success, for doing all these laps and understanding the bike. Completing 11 laps in Qatar is positive, but we need to keep working and understand more for tomorrow," Martin acknowledged, "I'm starting to stop the bike, especially under braking, but there are many points that I think need to be improved in terms of electronics. I need to understand well how the Aprilia works under braking, because sometimes I have to go wide or long to avoid crashing."
Is finishing the Grand Prix a possibility for the Aprilia rider?
"I don't know, it will be very difficult to finish it. If I can manage to complete 22 laps it will be a success, but as I said I think my weekend can already be considered a success. I was seven tenths off my time on the Ducati, so I wasn't that far off at the end. I have to continue on this path," replied the man himself, before commenting on the fact that it might not make sense to grit my teeth until the end of the GP: "It depends. I think it's also good training. Today I was going beyond my physical possibilities and there was a moment when I couldn't go on anymore, but I kept the pace."
Martin then went into more detail about how he approached the final laps of the Sprint.
"I had a lot of muscle soreness, I struggled a lot, but I managed to be consistent. I wasn't particularly fast, I was lapping in 1'53"4/1'53"5, which is my current pace, and I was able to maintain that," he said, "That was also one of my goals and overall I'm happy. I just need more laps."
