Jorge Martin pulled off a great damage-limitation ride in Thailand as he finished in second place in treacherous conditions.
The Thai Grand Prix provided another twist in the tale of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship. On Saturday Jorge Martin finished second in the Sprint Race in dry conditions. However, after rain had been falling throughout Sunday Martin had to settle for second in the Grand Prix.
Martin got off to an amazing start and he led the field out of turn one on lap one. However, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez began to reel in the #89. Eventually, Martin cracked and made a mistake, meaning he ran off the circuit and dropped back to third.
Martin eventually inherited second after Marquez crashed in front of him. But Martin almost followed his compatriot's lead as he pulled off a superhuman save to prevent a crash of his own.
"It was a really challenging race today, a challenging day," Martin told MotoGP.com after the race. "I don't want anybody to feel what I felt before the race, being Pecco and me at this stage of the Championship with these conditions is not good. But I think I was quite calm, the race went well.
"The beginning was very good, but straight away when I started my feeling was not the same as from Warm-Up. I was struggling to open the throttle and I was sliding a lot from the rear. I was increasing the gap, but then I saw that they had something else. I went wide in corner three and Pecco and Marc overtook me. I tried to stay close to them because I thought about doing a potential move at the end of the race.
"But as soon as Marc crashed I also lost the front in the same way as him. But I was able to save it, I went wide and I was able to save that crash from that point I just controlled the gap to Jack (Miller) and Pedro (Acosta)."
'He is a great Champion, he's not a three-time World Champion for nothing.'
Martin was able to explain how he managed to save a crash that Marquez could not. The Spaniard stated he was able to save his crash after witnessing Marquez fall in the same way just seconds before. Martin thanked Marquez's crash as it allowed him to anticipate his own.
"I had a lot of moments during the race," Martin stated. "I was always really close to crashing, but I was always ready to save it. I saw Marc lose the front, so I was prepared to lose the front also, so that is why I saved it. Without Marc in front of me I would have crashed. So, thanks to that crash I was able to understand and anticipate it a bit."
After completing a 26-lap race in treacherous conditions Martin was thankful that it was over. The Prima Pramac Racing rider was unable to match Bagnaia's ability in the wet conditions. But he was gracious in defeat explaining that the race today shows why Bagnaia is a three-time Champion.
"It was a really long race," Martin explained. "The last few laps I was just thinking f*ck I wanted it to be in the dry, I thought in the dry I had something more. He was super strong today, as you can see he is a great Champion, he's not a three-time World Champion for nothing. I tried to keep his pace, but losing three points this weekend is really good."
'I have a lot of confidence from how I raced yesterday.'
With two rounds remaining in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship Martin has admitted to feeling tense. Across the last two seasons Martin has been beaten by Bagnaia, but this year Martin is in control of the standings.
With 74 points still on the table Martin knows he can finish second in all four remaining races and still be crowned World Champion.
"I felt the tension like six or seven races ago," Martin admitted. "I try to learn from every situation, I think this weekend I learnt some more. I am really happy and I have a lot of confidence from how I raced yesterday. I think this is my riding style and this is what I bring to Malaysia. It is what brought me here so I will try to attack and try to be in front of Pecco."