The Pramac rider made his first public appearance this Thursday in the run-up to the Misano Grand Prix after learning, last Friday, of Ducati’s decision that the one chosen to accompany Pecco Bagnaia in the official team in 2023 was Enea Bastianini, leaving Jorge Martín in his current team for, at least, the next season.
The news was a blow to the man from Madrid, who hoped to be chosen, despite the fact that he recognized that Enea “deserved the position just like me”, after the Italian won three of the first seven races of the course.
“The war that was created between Enea and me is not good. It is not good for the drivers because it may not let you perform at 100%. At the beginning of the year, Ducati asked me about the possibility of becoming an official rider, but then I had some crashes and surely the bosses lost some confidence”, he summed up.
Martín told motorsport.com that he learned of the decision just minutes before it was made public.
“I found out the same Friday, my representative called me to tell me. The options were 50/50 and in the end it was no. Being in Pramac has a thousand positive things too, being in the official team was more about the colors and the illusion, but being in my current team allows me to have the motivation to make history and set goals for myself that perhaps in the factory box I could not have” he explained.
The final decision on who was going to be chosen came from the noble floor of Borgo Panigale, something that still leaves the Spanish pilot more upset.
“We both had our options, Enea after winning three races deserved it just like me. This year, with an official bike, I have had to try many things, I have always done what the factory has asked me to do. With the bike I have, having to evolve it and with everything new, it’s not the same as racing with a made bike that already won last year, that’s the difference. What annoys me the most or disgusts me the most, it’s as if they hadn’t been inside the box, which is how it should be done, it seems that the decision has been made by a person in the stands, a fan. It is the only thing that has bothered me a little, but I know that they trust me and that they know that I can do very well”.
An affirmation, that of Martín, that reinforces the fact that the decision was not made in the circuits, but in the offices.
“The feeling is that it has been taken by people who don’t understand as much as a Gigi (Dall’Igna) or someone like that.”
Although at the beginning of the season Martín received the promise to go to the official team in 2023, circumstances have changed Ducati’s decision.
“I don’t feel betrayed, in the end the contract I signed is even better than the one offered by the official team, they will want to recover their investment trying to get results and, why not, fight for a World Cup. I will try to fight for the title for Pramac, and I hope that if I have that chance they will give me the same tools that the officials have”.
Another delicate point is that Martín had an offer on the table to race with Honda in 2023 from the start of the course, a proposal that he did not consider.
“Yes, if I knew the meaning of Ducati’s decision, I would surely have listened more to the offers that came to my agent, which does not mean that I would have left. But if I would have listened and advanced more with others. But if I’m here it’s because fate has wanted it and it’s where we have to be, at least another year”.
In fact, Martín has signed two years with Ducati, but at the end of the first he can freely decide his future without paying a penalty.
“Having the freedom to be able to decide your future gives you more peace of mind and allows you not to depend only on Ducati. In any case, my goal is to join the official team, it hasn’t been now but we’ll try to make it next year, and if it can’t be we’ll see other options”, settles the man from San Sebastian de los Reyes.
