Jorge Martin denied that his mid-race overtake on Marc Marquez was an act of retaliation after the Ducati rider’s opening-lap move dropped the Aprilia rider to eighth in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint.
Joint championship leaders Martin and Marquez lined up first and second for Saturday’s half-distance race at the Red Bull Ring, setting up the stage for an epic duel for victory.
At the start, the factory Aprilia rider ran too deep at the exit of Turn 1, becoming vulnerable to reigning champion Marquez into the chicane. The pair came to blows in the middle of the right-left sequence, with Martin running off the track and Marquez claiming the lead.
Despite dropping to eighth on the run down to Turn 3, 2024 champion Martin staged an incredible comeback, passing five riders by the midway point of the race to close back in on Marquez.
On lap 8, the 28-year-old barged his way past the reigning champion, forcing the Ducati wide at the exit of Turn 1 to grab second. With Pedro Acosta crashing out of the lead with three laps remaining, Martin went on to score his fourth win of the year to claim a three-point lead in the standings.
Recalling the opening lap battle with Marquez, he said: “I think there was nothing I could do. I did the first corner well. Then, in the second corner, I braked so hard to try to keep the position, even though I heard a ‘red bullet’ going there.
“But the important thing is that I didn’t lose, I didn’t go wide, I was able to keep the line [into Turn 2A]. But then, when I changed direction [for Turn 2B], I almost crashed, so that was the moment where I started losing positions.
“This is racing. I hope that tomorrow I will be a bit more clever and try to understand where to pass.”
When pressed if Marquez was too aggressive in the second half of the corner, he added: “I knew he was going to try, as he always does. I was ready for everything and I was able to stay on the bike, so this is good.”
Martin insisted that he wasn’t trying to take revenge on Marquez with a bold pass at Turn 1, stressing that he had to be firm to make the move stick.
“No, the thing is when you overtake Marc, if you overtake just like another rider, he will overtake you back,” the Spaniard explained.
“So you need to stop the bike a bit more and try to keep a good exit. That’s what I did, not only with him, but also with Alex [Marquez] and with Marco [Bezzecchi].
“It’s really important nowadays in MotoGP and more on this track to keep a good line for the exit.”
When Jorge Lorenzo asked if the anger he felt after dropping the order at the start helped get the best out of him, Martin refuted the question, saying: “All weekend I’ve been building a lot of pace, going alone, trying to do long runs… Maybe in other races I lacked that more, but even though I was eighth I knew I had the pace to move forward.
“I didn’t expect to catch Marc, to be honest, but lap after lap I saw that I had more than the rest. I could brake very late, I had a lot of cornering speed. And I just overtook them one by one.”
Martin at his best
Martin earned plaudits for his incredible comeback ride at Spielberg, having taken just half the race to recover to second place. Although he could only win the sprint after Acosta’s self-inflicted error, he was able to match his countryman’s pace.
Following the race, Martin said the Austria performance showed he had rediscovered his best form in MotoGP.
“I never forgot to ride, so I think it is maybe my best version, for sure,” he said. But it’s nothing I didn’t do in the past, so I’m happy with my performance. I had that hunger to be fast and, yeah, I pulled out all my talent today.
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