After a mixed training day on Friday, the MotoGP sprint day in Mugello actually started ideally for Jorge Martin. Thanks to a record lap, the world championship leader beat the favorite Francesco Bagnaia in qualifying on Saturday morning and surprisingly secured pole position. However, just under three and a half hours later, things quickly went downhill again: First, a collision with Enea Bastianini caused a stir, then the 26-year-old threw his Ducati GP24 into the gravel bed of turn one while on course for the podium.
How did this happen? The simple answer: The sprint simply didn’t start ideally for Martin. Not only Francesco Bagnaia got off to a better start, but also Enea Bastianini. This meant that the pole sitter only entered the first corner in third place. As Bagnaia was already threatening to pull away at the front, Martin immediately put a lot of pressure on fellow brand driver Bastianini and passed him at the start of the second lap, but found himself facing a counterattack from the Italian just one lap later.
MotoGP collision with Bastianini – Martin: Only he could have prevented it!
Bastianini used the slipstream at the start/finish line to position himself on the inside lane next to Martin when braking for turn one. However, he overshot ‘San Donato’ slightly, which opened up a small gap on the inside, into which Martin plunged. When Bastianini tried to return to the racing line, there was contact, whereupon he lost control and slid off the track. The race management immediately announced an investigation, but just five minutes later decided that it was a “racing accident”.
“I see the situation as being a bit at the limit, it depends on your perspective. I think the contact was at the limit. I was in front and took a heavy hit, I couldn’t do anything,” complained accident victim Bastianini during his media round. Martin naturally saw the situation a little differently. “He went wide into turn one and then I drove the normal line. I felt contact, but didn’t know whether he had fallen or not because I didn’t see him,” reported the Pramac driver, adding: “We could have avoided the collision if he had looked before he came back. I was lucky that only he fell and not me.”
Jorge Martin crashes in the MotoGP sprint in Mugello without warning
At the beginning of the eighth lap, however, this finally happened and the sprint finally took a turn for the worse for the world championship leader. After Marc Marquez had overtaken him two laps earlier, he lost the front in the very corner where he had previously clashed with Bastianini while riding relatively unchallenged in third place. This was the first time that the ‘Martinator’ had a zero in a MotoGP sprint; before that, he had always finished and scored points in this discipline. An eighth place in Termas de Rio Hondo 2023 was his worst result to date. “It had to happen sooner or later, and today was the day. But I prefer that it happened today. Better on a bad day than on one when I feel good,” the Pramac driver casually waves off.
But not only did this impressive series end, Martin also suffered a second setback in the title fight after his crash in Jerez. Since Bagnaia and Marquez finished in the first two places, they caused maximum damage and reduced their deficit to 27 and 32 points respectively. The Spanish Grand Prix is also a good keyword here, because memories of that crash were awakened on Saturday afternoon. “It was exactly the same crash,” reported the Pramac driver.
In Jerez, Martin was puzzled about why he had crashed almost five weeks ago. He described it as his braking in that corner as he had on the previous laps. A statement that was repeated almost word for word this time: “I went a bit wide on the previous lap, so I braked a bit earlier so as not to go wide again and then I crashed. I don’t like it when I crash and don’t understand it. Even if you look closely: the temperature was OK, the tire pressure was OK. Nevertheless, I felt like I was at the limit with the front, we have to understand that and improve it, because at the moment it feels like I’m overloading the front. After three laps, the tire already feels like it has already done 20 laps and that is of course not good.”
Jorge Martin worried before Italian GP: We urgently need to improve!
Martin therefore has a clear demand of his team for the main race on Sunday, otherwise he risks losing another point: “We have to improve the setup for tomorrow because I won’t be competitive with this bike. I find it extremely difficult to turn the bike. I saw a big difference to Pecco and Marc.” The good thing: The Spaniard can take a look at the telemetry of his World Championship rivals on Saturday evening and adapt. After all, such a leap in performance was also achieved recently in Barcelona, but: “The crash here is really difficult to understand. The same thing happened to Pecco in Montmelo. That affects your confidence for the next races.”