In the duel with Enea Bastianini, championship leader Jorge Martin makes a mistake in the last corner that costs him second place and further points on “Pecco” Bagnaia
While Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia showed no weakness in Sunday’s MotoGP race at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix in Mugello, claiming a commanding start-finish victory from fifth on the grid after taking the lead on the second corner, Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin made what he described as a “rookie mistake “
Martin entered the final corner of the 23-lap race in second place with no chance of victory. At the finish, however, he was only third because he left the door wide open on the inside of that very last corner. Enea Bastianini on the second works Ducati did not miss the chance and overtook Martin. In doing so, “Bestia” not only did himself a favor, but also his team-mate Bagnaia.
With his sprint victory and Grand Prix win, “Pecco” Bagnaia scored the ideal 37 points on the Italian weekend. World championship leader Jorge Martin recorded a zero on Saturday with a crash, which allowed Bagnaia to make up twelve points. And because Martin finished third instead of second on Sunday, Bagnaia made up a further nine points
This means that the defending champion has reduced his deficit on the championship leader by 21 points in just one weekend. Martin is now “only” 18 points ahead of Bagnaia in the 2024 MotoGP overall standings. As far as Martin is concerned, he is most annoyed about his mistake in the last corner in the duel with Bagnaia’s team-mate Bastianini.
“That was a big mistake, a rookie mistake,” said Martin to himself. Despite being annoyed with himself, he immediately tries to see the positives. “I believe a driver grows with his experience. And today I had a very bad experience in the last corner,” says the MotoGP championship leader, who assures: “Believe me. That won’t happen to me again in the future! From now on, I will always ride on the inside of the white line in the last corner at Mugello. “
Bastianini: “It was on the limit, but it went well “
Enea Bastianini, who gratefully accepted the unexpected gift to secure a double victory for the Ducati factory team on the Italian national holiday, described the maneuver in the last corner as follows: “The risk was big, but I think it was under control. I saw how he braked very hard. The decisive factor was the apex of the corner. I opened the throttle very early. It was at the limit, but it went well. “
Shortly before he took over second place from Jorge Martin in the last corner of the last lap, Bastianini had regained third position in a duel with Gresini Ducati rider Marc Marquez, which he had temporarily lost shortly before.
“To be honest, I was a bit asleep in the first half of the race,” grinned Bastianini. “But when Marc passed me, I woke up again and just thought: That’s not right, that’s my podium! So in the end I rode better than ever before. The fact that I also passed Jorge on the last corner was not without danger, but I’m very happy.”
In terms of the future, however, it is Jorge Martin who is likely to sleep better than Enea Bastianini. After the developments of the past few days, the current world championship leader from Spain is considered to have the best chance of securing a place in the Ducati factory team alongside “Pecco” Bagnaia in 2025. If that happens, Bastianini will have to look for another team.
“Future, future, future. I want to think about the present,” says Bastianini and continues: “We’ve already thought a lot about the future, but today I want to enjoy this day. I’ve been through a really difficult phase in which both I and the team made a few mistakes. There was always something.”
“I’m very happy today. I’m not normally overjoyed about a second place, but I am today. I don’t want to think about the future now,” said Bastianini.