Martín: "I hope to have the extra we need to be able to win the race"

October 22, 2022

Sepang.- Fourth pole of the season and second in a row in just one week, after the one in Australia last Saturday, for a Jorge Martín who has become the strongest driver on the grid in one lap, as he made clear in qualifying of the Malaysian Grand Prix, in which, twice, he dropped the 2019 record, held by Fabio Quartararo, being the first and, for the moment, the only driver who has dropped below 1.58 on this circuit, setting a new record for the pole with 1.57.790.

Knowing that, after one lap, Martín is practically unbeatable when he has the bike ready, now the rider from Madrid wants to capture his riding in the race and achieve his long-awaited second victory in the premier class, which would be the first this season.

“The truth is that I thought the first lap would be worth it,” acknowledged Martín, who with his first tire had already dropped the record to turn in 1.58.645.

“Making a strategy in qualifying is complicated, I had many drivers behind, but in the end I pushed and I had a very good second lap”, explained his record time.

“But I’m also in good rhythm after FP4 and let’s see if we can have a good race tomorrow.”

Despite flying with the best time ever seen on this circuit, Martín kept a little margin.

“On the first lap I made a small mistake, on the second I didn’t make any mistakes, but I left myself a very slight margin in some corners, but it’s not 20 thousandths, it was a very good lap,” he insisted.

Martín is happy with his pole positions, but what he wants now is to win a race and with Pecco Bagnaia starting so far back on the grid, he thinks he has a good opportunity to get first and try to escape, although Enea Bastianini, who starts second, will surely not makes it easy for him.

“We have the potential to make a very fast lap, but what I am most happy about is the race pace, that is the most important thing, I am much stronger than in other weekends

Let’s see if we finally get a good start, we can manage well and have that extra we need to win a race,” he argued.

“We have already had some races with a good rhythm, we are going to try to balance everything tomorrow, we will have to manage a lot with the tires and the physique, the race will be fast, I don’t think there will be a fight until the end like in Australia, for me it will be important to try to lead and manage to impose the pace we have to open a bit of a gap”, making it clear that his options are to escape from the first laps.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing