Jorge Martin disclosed he “lost the front quite heavily,” which almost caused him to crash in the latter stages of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.
Martin recovered from 11th place in qualifying to finish in second place, but he revealed that he eased off after a late charge to catch leader Francesco Bagnaia.
The Pramac rider was 1.8s adrift of his title rival but clawed the gap back to 0.7s. However, a near crash led the Spaniard to bring the bike home and secure the 20 points.
“For sure, when I was closing the gap I thought I could make the move,” he said.
“I saw Pecco was pushing, because he did a few mistakes in corner 11.
“So, I said ok, he’s pushing like hell. So I said ‘Ok, let’s push’. And everything was under control.
“I was quite on the limit, but under control. But then I lost the front quite heavily in corner three.
“I saved it with the elbow. Then I lost like two seconds, I was really shitting myself and I said ‘Ok, it’s enough’.
“For sure, in championship ways, I think we have to think about this 20 points starting from 11th.
“Now it’s important to improve qualifying to do good qualifyings, because when I am in front I can lead and I can control the races.”
Martin pinpointed when in the race he decided to lift off and settle for second, with tyre wear playing a pivotal role throughout.
He added: “For me, it’s not like a victory. I’m a rider and I want to at least battle for the win always.
“Coming from the back it was difficult to overtake the riders. I had to use a bit more tyre than Pecco I think.
“So, I started to close the gap but when you are closer than half a second everything became quite difficult with the bike.
“It was difficult to stop the bike. And then 10 laps to go, I said ‘Ok, I try again, let’s go for it’. I saw Pecco was struggling a bit on braking, so I was pushing quite a lot.
“Three to go I had this big moment in corner three; this moment told me ‘Jorge, ok, it’s time to stop and finish with 20 points’.
“Pecco was really strong, he is a master of managing tyres, so he did an amazing job.
“But I feel confident coming from the fourth row to make second, good confidence for Australia that is a nice track for me.”
Martin feels “stronger” than he was in 2023
Bagnaia’s victory reduced Martin’s championship lead to only 10 points heading into the final four race weekends. A maximum of 148 points are still to be awarded.
Martin revealed his plans to try to become a first-time MotoGP champion and admitted he feels as though he is a “stronger” rider than he was one year ago.
“For sure, last sprint to the end,” he added.
“Will be tough, Pecco is an amazing rider. But I feel grateful to be here, grateful I can battle like last year.
“But I feel stronger. So, let’s go for it. There are some races where I think I am a bit better, some others where Pecco is a bit better.
“So, the target is to bring it till Valencia and have the chance to win it.”
