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Jorge Martin left Australia with a bad taste in his mouth, after which there was the mistake in Indonesia and the gamble at Phillip Island with the rear tyre that then betrayed the Spaniard in the final laps. The postponed and cancelled sprint on Sunday had therefore brought an end to a dark weekend for Jorge's ambitions. In Thailand, however, there was a reaction, and it was one of those at the highest levels: the Spaniard made a clean sweep with pole, sprint and race victories, closing the gap to 13 points to his rival Bagnaia.
In the race, Martin exploited the advantage of pole with an excellent start that catapulted his Ducati Pramac into the lead, setting a fast pace and leaving his rivals three tenths behind. With Bagnaia forced from the rear to make an exhausting comeback, the Spaniard then managed the tyres for the brawl in the final laps. A brawl that saw Martin pitted against Binder's KTM and Pecco's Ducati, but he came out on top on the last lap after a series of overtaking attempts with the rear tyre running out of grip. There are now three races left on the calendar to win the championship, with the Spaniard who seems to have already left behind the mistakes of the past and emerged stronger.
It was an exciting race full of overtaking, you fought until the end defending yourself from the attacks of your rivals. It all ended with an explosion of joy at the finish line.
"It was one of the best races of my career - said Martin - during the final duels I had difficulty braking hard and overtaking but today I had the confidence to be able to counterattack. When Brad and Pecco caught up with me in the last laps I thought they were a bit faster, I managed the tyres well and I think I defended well. I was convinced that after the overtaking Brad would leave me behind but that wasn't the case, after leading the race on my own for 20 laps it wasn't easy mentally having to deal with all those corners and overtaking, but I kept my concentration, and it went well."
What did you think when you saw Brad arriving after having dominated the entire race with a three-tenths gap?
"I started to hear the loud roar of his engine in turn 7 and I realized that he was trying to attack me. In that corner I was already quite at the limit so initially I thought he had more grip. When he passed me instead, I saw that he was also he was at the limit and I counterattacked, but they were really overtakes at the limit."
After Brad's overtake, did you think you would settle for second place?
“When Brad overtook me, I thought he was going to pull away, but then I saw he used more tyres and I was stronger. I was able to overtake him and push like hell to win today.”
The race on the Thai circuit demonstrated how Jorge can win even when fighting in close combat with his rivals.
"I think that both Brad and Pecco are among the strongest riders in braking. Having been able to beat them, going head-to-head with them, corner after corner, was an incredible feeling. This gives me a lot of confidence because if I managed to beat them it means that I also know how to be strong when braking. I had to manage the front so I couldn't brake too late but when I needed to do so I did so."
At the finish line the Spaniard visibly expressed all the joy of a victory achieved curve after curve.
“This Saturday I did not enjoy the victory at all because I was completely focused on Sunday’s race - confessed Martin - I have not slept. I need four or five days of not thinking about motorcycles. I am mentally destroyed.”
Jorge Martin made a clean sweep of things in Buriram, taking pole, the sprint and the race victory on Saturday. A weekend that allows him to close the gap on Pecco in the standings, bringing the Spaniard to 13 points behind Bagnaia: the race for the title is wide open.
"I'm happy - Martin paused and let out a smile - obtaining these three results together in a single weekend is a really good feeling. I can admit that I already feel the pressure, there's only three races to go and I can no longer afford mistakes, now the objective is to recover points in the standings."
Our thoughts therefore obviously turn to the two mistakes made in Indonesia and Australia.
“I think the difficult moments are super tough and really difficult to get back up from and difficult to get the motivation. But, for sure, they made me stronger. It was not easy mentally to find the right concentration after those mistakes, but I think that now thanks to them I have become stronger. The mistake in Mandalika weighed more heavily between the two, I had a three second lead and I threw everything away. In Australia it was basically a case of the wrong tyre choice."
A curiosity, we saw you enter as one of the last on the grid.
"I learned my lesson in India, I don't understand why the heat has this effect on me, even today at the end of the race I didn't feel great. Before starting I tried to spend as little time as possible in the heat, it worked: for the 40 minutes of the race I was in perfect condition."
