MotoGP Valencia: Martin ‘super happy with pole, Quartararo has a chance’

Prima Pramac’s Jorge Martin secured pole position at Valencia with a 1’29.621 lap on Saturday afternoon.

Bettering Marc Marquez and Jack Miller by over two tenths, Martin’s first flying lap was enough to take the celebrations for the fifth time this season with the Pramac rider hunting for his first visit to the top step in 2022.

“I’m super happy for the pole position today,” Martin said from the post-qualifying press conference. “Doing here in Valencia is always special because we have all the fans and it’s always nice to end the season like this.

“Was difficult, I think the most difficult of the season because this morning on time attack, I felt really, really bad so I wasn’t expecting to be on pole position.

“For sure I will fight for it and I did but I was more happy about the pace than the time attack, but finally I could do a really great lap - ‘29.6 is really fast. I thought I had the chance to improve a little bit on the second stint but I lose the rear like two or three times so yeah, I couldn’t do it but I’m really happy and ready for tomorrow.

“Tomorrow will be tough,” he continued looking ahead to Sunday’s final battle. “For sure I learned from mistakes in Malaysia. I wanted so hard and then I did this big mistake but it is what it is. Tomorrow will be a different story because I feel like there are a lot of riders with the pace for that victory. I will try so hard to win the race but even with a podium, I will be really happy to end the season with a podium. We will try the best, I think we have the potential so let’s go for it.”

Valencia has been the site of numerous celebrations for the 24-year-old, with victories in both Moto3 and Moto2 alongside his runner-up spot last season as a rookie in the premier