Stunning Martin at Le Mans
The positive protagonist of Saturday at Le Mans is undoubtedly Jorge Martin. After a so-so qualifying, the Spaniard managed to make up for it with a masterful start, which allowed him to immediately jump to the lead after a few corners. The 2024 world champion made the most of both others’ indecisions and his own competitiveness in the first sector of the track, where he had already shown to be particularly fast during the morning practice. And once in front, he managed to consolidate the lead thanks to clean riding, on an RS-GP26 that allowed him to be unbeatable in direction changes and acceleration.
Read more Le Mans Qualifying Analysis: Bagnaia King of T1, Marquez Never Consistent in T4
Martin’s words
“It’s part of my job to prepare all situations well, but starting eighth honestly it was impossible to know what others could do. I clearly had my trajectory in mind, but it went better than I thought. I had a lot of hope to make a good start and get third or fourth, that was my plan. With P1 everything becomes easier, you have clean air and just have to ride“, this was his comment to Sky Sport MotoGP. “From there on the real race started, and I couldn’t believe it when I took that gap, I didn’t think I could gain 1.5 seconds three laps from the end. I have more and more feeling with the bike, we have to keep going like this“.
“I have to say we made a change to the bike for the race that I hadn’t tried, it went as we thought and this helped me to be very comfortable“, he added. “Am I stronger than in 2024? I don’t know, but I am definitely more complete. I have more experience in managing situations. I’ve never ridden a bike like the Aprilia, it allows you to do a lot, and I am happy to have this opportunity“.
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With this extraordinary performance, Martin has moved to -6 from teammate Marco Bezzecchi, relaunching himself in the standings with the awareness of being able to extend also over Marc Marquez, who will miss at least the next three races due to a fracture of the fifth metatarsal of the right foot.
