MotoGP Catalunya: Surgery successful for Martin, ‘podium amazing’

Jorge Martin was back on the MotoGP podium on Sunday after the Prima Pramac rider claimed a somewhat unexpected second place in the CatalanGP.

Despite the new title sponsor, introduced during the Mugello weekend, it was a return to old ways which bore fruit for Martin after the Spaniard opted to switch back to his original standard settings on the Ducati GP22 having spent the past three races trialing those of factory rider Pecco Bagnaia.

A strong qualifying showing and an equally impressive launch off the lights allowed the 24-year-old to avoid the first corner melee which saw LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami crash out, taking Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Bagnaia with him.

“It was really great to start but Honda did a great step and Pol [Espargaro] and Nakagami were incredible into the first corner. I was together with Johann [Zarco] and then I saw Nakagami overtake both of us and I was expecting he went for sure wide. So I tried to give the inside and then when he lost the front, I tried to avoid all the crashes.

“I was fighting also with Pol. The second corner I was already third So I just said ‘okay, now time to manage, time to push’. I overtook as soon as I could Aleix [Espargaro] because he was managing too much. I saw that Fabio was going away. I was pulling a little gap but then he came again and fight back but anyway, I thought I had something for the last lap.

“Even if he closed the throttle, I was trying to come back to overtake maybe in corner ten, that I was feeling strong. So yeah, happy with my result.

While Martin looked a sure thing for a podium in the closing stages, with Pramac teammate Zarco just a little too far adrift to make trouble, second was less of a given until confusion surrounding the final lap struck