Jorge Martin lays the foundation for his Portugal victory with a perfect start – the fact that he managed to do this on this track is something very special for him
“The fact that I’m at the top here now is incredible,” said a jubilant Jorge Martin after his start-finish victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The Spaniard recalls a fateful day in the spring of 2021 in the hour of his great triumph
Back then, Portimao was the third race weekend on the calendar. Martin was a MotoGP rookie and had recently claimed his first pole position in Qatar and his first podium finish with third place. His rise seemed unstoppable.
But then Martin crashed in Portimao in the third free practice session. “I broke nine bones in turn 7,” he recalls. “I almost lost everything on that track in 2021. I almost had to stop racing.”
That’s why winning on this track is something very special. “I think it also gives me a lot of maturity for the future,” the Pramac Ducati rider is convinced. In the sprint, vibrations still occurred with the soft rear tire. He saved third place.
But with the medium rear tire, things went perfectly in the long race: “The key was the start. I really wanted to take the lead in the first corner. I defended the line in the third corner, because I knew that was the key to victory.”
“At the beginning, I tried to manage the race and the tire a bit. I carved out those two or three tenths of a second to maintain the lead.” Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati) chased Martin and stayed close.
However, they never got close enough to launch an attack. “When they were three tenths of a second behind me, it wasn’t easy. But as soon as my lead was seven tenths of a second, I realized that I had to keep this gap. “
LIGHTS OUT IN MotoGP@88jorgemartin leads into T1! PortugueseGP pic.twitter.com/92Uj0Tm09t
– MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) March 24, 2024
“I could remember Indonesia. Winning by eight tenths of a second is the same as winning by three seconds. If they made up a tenth of a second, I would have taken it out. I had that margin.”
“I’ll be back at the front on Sunday. The most important thing is the consistency we are demonstrating. That was a mature victory,” Martin is convinced. “I am very happy and proud of my team. The new Ducati works better on Sunday than it did on Saturday.”
After two race weekends, the Spaniard has now also taken the lead in the world championship. His lead over rival Brad Binder (KTM) is already 18 points. It is not the first time that Martin has led the overall standings
Last year, however, he only managed this after sprints and lost the lead again after the Grand Prix. “I’m enjoying the moment, because otherwise I’ve never managed it for longer than 24 hours,” he laughs, referring to this statistic.
“It’s never easy to take the lead. I’m super proud and want to enjoy this moment. We don’t know what will happen in Austin.” Last year, Martin finished third in the sprint in the USA, but retired from the Grand Prix due to an accident with Alex Marquez in the starting phase
