Martinator went beyond his expectations
Raise your hand if you would have ever bet on the two Aprilia Racing riders if they had told you that after the first three races there would be a pair of teammates leading the operations in the Riders’ standings.
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Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin are separated by four points and while it was reasonable to expect a ‘slingshot’ start from the Italian rider, there was no lack of unknowns regarding the 2024 world champion, especially after the forced absence from the tests in Malaysia due to yet another surgery.
Martinator instead has only collected top-5 finishes in both the Sprints and the GPs, a start to the season that surprised Martin himself first and foremost: “I tried to keep my expectations low, I absolutely did not expect to get these results in Texas – said Martin interviewed by DAZN – I was ready for low-profile races with the sole objective of always getting points, even at the cost of finishing eighth”.
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With a start like this, Martin finds it hard not to take flights of fancy: “Usually the end of the season is my time, but I don’t want to look too far ahead”, added the Aprilia rider. Martin expects a ‘return to normalcy’ at Jerez: “Ducati? At Jerez everything will return to normal“, a scenario not entirely shared by Francesco Bagnaia because at this moment it is the cornering performance that is failing the Ducati.
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