The driver from San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) ends his first season with a victory and three podium finishes in ninth place in the championship and, more importantly, as the best rookie. Jorge Martín arrived three points behind Enea Bastianini, in what has been the most even MotoGP rookie of the decade.
Martinator made the fourth pole of the season on Saturday and had everything in his face to take that award, but poisoning from something he ate barely allowed him to sleep and he even considered not racing.
The Pramac rider led for more than half the race, but when Pecco Bagnaia passed him he was unable to answer. However, Martín resisted the final push from Jack Miller to finish second and be on the podium of Ducati’s first triplet in MotoGP.
“Yesterday when I went to bed I started to feel sick. Something made me sick, I started vomiting. I was able to sleep for three hours and another after warm up. Without food I felt very weak in the race. As the laps passed I saw the podium closer, but I knew that victory was not in my plans because Bagnaia was stronger. I am showing myself a mental strength that is not from this planet. I even thought about not running. Holding on to Pecco has not been easy,” Martín summed up.
(Before continuing reading, click on the link or on the image to see all the photos of Jorge Martín at the 2021 MotoGP Valencia GP)
The young Spaniard has not had an easy season, marked by the serious injury he suffered in Portugal at the start that caused him to miss four races. Despite the fact that in the previous days he downplayed the title of best rookie, after finishing in Valencia he recognized that he had it between his eyebrows.
“I did not want to give importance to the rookie but it was the goal of the year, and after missing so many races, to be here… I want to thank my grandfather, my family, the doctors, my team, I feel at home Now to do the test and then we all go to Punta Cana,” he said in reference to the vacations.
Seeing Martin’s results in his debut year, the question is where is his ceiling?
“ Very happy with my performance and very motivated for the future. Fighting with official riders who have been there for a long time shows me that we have a lot of potential. We will have to be constant. If I continue along the lines of Austin , Portimao , Austria … I have been competitive in more half of the races. It is clear that we can fight for great things, I don’t know if the world championship. The goal is the top 5 and if we manage to be there we will fight for beautiful things. If I continue along this line, it is clear that we can fight for great things,” he stressed.
