Current MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin admitted his crash when leading the Spanish Grand Prix was “strange.”
The Pramac Ducati rider started in third and was able to quickly dispatch pole-sitter Marc Marquez and fend off 2023 champion Francesco Bagnaia in the opening two laps of the race.
Martin established a second cushion between himself and Bagnaia but on Lap 11 the Spaniard lost the front of his Ducati heading into Turn 6 resulting in his first retirement of the 2024 season.
Bagania went on to win the race, his third in a row at Jerez, which means Martin’s lead in the standings has been cut to 17 points.
When speaking with the media following the race, Martin was unable to pinpoint any reason as to why the crash occurred.
“For sure [it was] a strange crash,” he said. “I will look a little bit into it. I was exactly at the same speed and I braked at the same point [as previous laps].
“So it’s a bit strange, we need to understand a bit more on the details.
“I was trying to be constant on that pace, 1m37.9, 38.0. It was a decent pace to keep the lead at that point of the race, trying to save a bit the rear tyre for the end. I was focused and confident.
“For sure, I didn’t expect to crash in that pace because I was really early into the corner, I was really straight. We need to understand to not repeat it again.
“Maybe there were some corners where I was risking a bit more, but corner six wasn’t one of them. I was trying to be constant, I was braking always at the same point. So we need to understand where and improve for the future.”
Eventual winner Bagnaia set a best time of 1.37.449s during the race and Martin admitted he would have struggled to match the Italian’s pace had he not fallen off.
“I saw 0.2 on the pit board and I saw he was struggling a little bit,” said the 26-year-old. “But I was trying to always keep the same pace. It’s not that I pushed a bit more.
“But today Pecco was, I saw afterwards at the track, he was outstanding. His pace was amazing. I didn’t feel like I had [1m]37.4, maybe 37.6, 37.7. I could do it, but not 37.4, that’s for sure.”
