Jorge Martin explains what triggered his small driving mistake at Turn 13 in Misano, which was used by “Pecco” Bagnaia to win the sprint race
Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin won the start to the MotoGP sprint at the weekend of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Misano, despite not starting from pole. But after leading Saturday’s race for a good eight of the 13 laps, he made a small mistake. This mistake was used by championship rival Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) to take the lead and eventually win the sprint.
Martin, who finished less than 0.3 seconds behind , explains what triggered his driving mistake in turn 13: “I lost concentration for a moment because I received a track limit warning at an unfortunate point [of the track]. When I looked at the dashboard, I missed the line by two meters and ‘Pecco’ passed me.”
Without missing the racing line in the last of three consecutive right-hand bends on the back straight, Martin would probably have won the sprint. Two weeks ago, he had won the sprint of the first Misano weekend ahead of Bagnaia. And in his opinion, he would have crossed the finish line in the same way this time too if he hadn’t been distracted and made the mistake.
MARTIN GOES WIDE!
@PeccoBagnaia forces @88jorgemartin to crack!
The hunter is now the hunted! EmiliaRomagnaGP pic.twitter.com/htHuWm1VMp
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) September 21, 2024
“Sure, ‘Pecco’ was close behind me, but I had everything under control. My pace was really good,” says Martin. The Pramac rider, who now leads the MotoGP overall standings by just four points from Bagnaia in 2024, is now focusing on Sunday’s Grand Prix: “Today I paid dearly for a small mistake. Hopefully I can stay error-free tomorrow.”
Bagnaia had a plan in the duel – Martin’s mistake helped him
For Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, the ultimately victorious sprint initially began with a botched start. The Ducati factory rider, who started from pole after setting the best time in qualifying, had to yield not only to Jorge Martin but also to KTM rider Brad Binder, who started from the second row, on the way to the first corner.
But on the first lap, Binder made a mistake in turn 6, putting Bagnaia in second instead of third. From then on, he chased race leader Martin. “My pace was extremely strong. I was able to close the gap and I had planned to overtake him at some point in the last four to six laps,” “Pecco” described his plan.
“But then he missed the line and I said to myself, ‘Okay, now I’ll take it from him,’“ said Bagnaia, alluding to the decisive moment that occurred with six laps remaining. From then on, it was the Ducati factory rider who had everything under control.
”Once I was in the lead, there were no more critical moments. On my first lap as the leader, I was immediately faster in the first two or three sectors, even though I wasn’t pushing at all. It’s incredible,” says Bagnaia.
The two-time MotoGP world champion is referring to the problem of the much-cited dirty air, i.e. the air turbulence that occurs when you follow a competitor closely. Thanks to aerodynamics, this dirty air has long been an issue in MotoGP as well.
Another poor sprint start for Bagnaia
Another issue for Bagnaia is that he has now got off to anything but an ideal start from pole in both Misano sprints. Two weeks ago, he had also lost the acceleration duel for the first turn to Martin on Saturday.
“I don’t know why, but my bike started to wheelie,” says Bagnaia, and explains: ‘To have more control over the bike, we deactivate the anti-wheelie control. But for the start, we might have to go back a step. It can’t be that we lose positions every time. For tomorrow, we will try to do better.’
