Jorge Martín took the lead in the Indonesian GP Sprint with an advantage of more than 1.5 seconds over Marc Márquez, but a technical problem and a late error led him to lose victory – and a podium.
Martin started fifth on the grid but made the most of a chaotic opening corner at Mandalika, where Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marquez, Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez went four-wide into the turn. Di Giannantonio ran deep under braking, triggering a chain reaction that ended with fellow Fernandez and Bezzecchi crashing out.
Martin threaded his way through the incident to take the lead ahead of Marquez and quickly began pulling away from his title rival. With five laps remaining, however, the Spaniard received a warning that his front tyre pressure was below the minimum required by the regulations, forcing him to let Marquez through to avoid a penalty.
Martin remained close behind the Ducati rider and planned to attack again on the final lap. But after getting back within the permitted pressure range, he ran wide while attempting to regain the lead, allowing Ai Ogura and Di Giannantonio to pass him as well. He ultimately finished fourth, losing the championship lead to Marquez, who now holds a four-point advantage.
“These things happen. It’s a shame to lose a great opportunity to win like this because of tyre pressures,” the Aprilia rider lamented.
“Then I still had options to win. I wanted to attack on the last lap, but I made a mistake as a consequence of having had to let Marc pass. The race was done and won, and everything became complicated,” he added.
The Aprilia rider said he had planned to let Marquez through with five laps remaining before attempting to retake the lead on the final lap.
“I told myself I’d let Marc past with five laps to go, and then I’d try to attack again. That’s what I did,” he said.
“In the end, I was in the pressure zone for the final lap and was planning to make a pass, but I made a mistake and went wide.
“I was feeling good, I was fast, I had the win almost in the bag – it was just a matter of managing the gap – but it was a shame to be out of the pressure zone. Just as I make mistakes, my team sometimes makes mistakes too, and we’re here to win and lose together.”
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Martin explains late error
The Aprilia rider said he had planned to let Marquez through with five laps remaining before attempting to retake the lead on the final lap. However, he made a mistake in the closing stages and dropped from second to fourth.
“I backed off and the rear of the bike stepped out,” he said. “I had no option. I will work to improve the engine braking for tomorrow.
“It’s a shame, because I wanted to win today and I could have done it. I had it in my pocket and everything started to fall apart. I think victory was achievable even with the tyre pressure issue.”
Marquez does not want to do the maths regarding the championship lead he lost this Saturday, or get involved in mind games with his rivals, as Marc did in Q2, when he tucked in behind him to ‘play’ a little with the Aprilia rider on a psychological level.
“I can’t control him following me in qualifying. I have to do my lap, whoever is in front. I think not all games are fair, but I also don’t think Marc did anything wrong or anything out of the ordinary. Personally, it didn’t affect me at all.”
Martín did not want to go into detail about how the tyre strategy for the race had been managed. Having started fifth on the grid, he was expected to be behind other riders during the first laps.
“I don’t know. It was very strange,” he said. “We have never taken risks with tyre pressures, we have never been outside the minimum with the pressures, and it is very strange that I was outside it today.
“I was riding and, when I saw that I wasn’t reaching the minimum, I got a little nervous. I already had it done and I had to rethink the strategy to let Marc pass and see if the pressure came into range.
“In the end, I managed to get back to the legal minimum, but it was already the last lap and I didn’t have time to overtake him. But I feel stronger and I think we will have a good opportunity tomorrow.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Martin acknowledged that the other Aprilia riders had been slightly faster but believed he could still fight for a podium.
“Both Raul and Marco are going a little faster than me, but I don’t think there is that much of a difference and I can fight for the podium.”
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