MADRID, 20 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish MotoGP rider Jorge Martín (Ducati) hopes to resolve his future “soon” since he believes that he is “earning hard” to go to the official Ducati team next year to be a teammate of Francesco Bagnaia and he is clear that he no longer has “nothing to prove”, at the same time he defends that he doesn’t care who is talked about after the races, because he is the one who enjoys when Sunday comes and he wins.
“I hope to close my future soon, during these next races. I have nothing more to prove, what I did last year and what I am doing this year in a satellite team is more than enough. Obviously, I am very happy in Pramac, which “We have done very well and it is a great team, but this cycle is already over and it is time to go to an official team. Hopefully, and it is my goal, to go to the official Ducati, but if not, then it will be somewhere else.” ‘Martinator’ detailed the situation for 2025 in an interview with Europa Press.
Before the inauguration of the new Ducati dealership in Valencia, with the presence of Francesco Milicia, vice president of Ducati Motor, and Carlos T. López Panisello, new director of Ducati Spain and Portugal, the rider from San Sebastián de los Reyes addressed his future in the World Cup, “calm” and trusting that he will be the partner of the Italian Francesco Bagnaia from 2025.
“I know I have good options and, wherever it is, I will do well. I am really looking forward to joining the official Ducati team, there is no other story, and I am confident that I will end up being a teammate of ‘Pecco’, but what I can’t control… I can control getting good results, winning races. If I don’t have the chance, it will be because it doesn’t have to happen,” he reflected.
And the man from Madrid is one of the great candidates to be part of the factory team of the Borgo Panigale brand, in a shortlist that also includes Enea Bastianini, in the desired seat since last year, and Marc Márquez who is once again competitive with Gresini’s Ducati. “Not a Martín-Marc Márquez couple at the moment, but it could happen. Who knows in the future if we can be partners, it wouldn’t be bad,” he said, laughing.
However, Martín’s start to the season is being spectacular, leading the World Cup with 38 points ahead of Bagnaia. Even the Madrid driver himself did not expect to “start so well”, because he saw himself “with more potential later in the season”. “Last year I went for the World Cup, so this year it was clear that I would fight for it again,” he warned.
“I was very focused on achieving these results from the beginning. I have had other years of not starting so well,” recalled ‘Martinator’, who however does not allude to “a ‘click’ that changes you as a person or driver”, but rather which is the result of “experience”. “Maybe last year I didn’t start in the best way, but from the middle of the final season I was super consistent, super fast, and I just kept that pace at the beginning of the season,” he explained.
“BEING A LEADER IS MORE DIFFICULT BECAUSE MANY THINGS GO THROUGH YOUR HEAD”
Martín insisted that over the years he has become “stronger”, since “experience helps” to find himself “comfortable in this situation.” Although he does not dare to guess how he will reach the last race, because “no one knows what is going to happen.” “The only thing I try to do is focus on my work, on giving my one hundred percent. That helps me take off a little pressure, although it will always be there,” he said.
“Leading is more difficult than being behind because you have many more thoughts and many things go through your head, but if you manage to separate it and try to go fast, it is a good way to reason and prepare for races, so that is my mentality until the end of the year. It is better not to think too much and just go race by race,” he added about his role this year in the World Championship as the main favorite after five races.
Also reinforced by the results, after winning the Sprint races on Saturday and Sunday in France, finding themselves “finally equal to or better than in 2023.” “With last year’s bike I was perhaps more comfortable, but that doesn’t mean you go faster. We had some problems at the beginning of the season that didn’t let me show my 100%, and I think that at Le Mans it was finally the first race in which I have achieved it,” he celebrated.
Likewise, Martín is also demonstrating that he has improved his mental strength in 2024, aware that “it is no use thinking about what has happened before” or “what is going to happen.” “If you give one hundred percent on the court, the thoughts you have or what happens outside does not affect you at all, I am calm about what I am doing,” he said.
“If I left something out, I didn’t give 100%, then I would have more doubts or more thoughts, but the way to deal with it is, since Friday, to go fast, trying to understand what I need to be even faster and on Sunday to have the bike in place to be able to win,” he indicated as a demonstration of his desire and desire to win a world title, something he has not achieved since 2018 in Moto3.
And to achieve this ambitious goal, he does not consider that it could benefit him if others, such as Marc Márquez or Pedro Acosta (KTM), receive more media attention. “I don’t care who you talk about, I do my job and I have a core that supports me, and that’s what I need to separate things. Regardless of who you talk about, the one who comes in on Sunday and wins is the one who wins.” to enjoy, and that’s what I’m doing,” he asserted with confidence.
Although he did not hesitate to praise the debut of the Murcian in the ‘queen’ category. “He is just another rival. You don’t see a rival as more or less, you simply wait to see what he does and compete against everyone. He is one more and it is clear that he is doing very well, he will be one of the strongest rivals in the future,” he predicted.
“As an elite athlete it is very difficult to stop and see what you are achieving, we always live very fast and thinking about what is coming next, preparing yourself to be better. It is difficult to think about the past, it is something for which I will have time. Nobody “I would have imagined that I would get to where I am, not me, not my family, not my friends, not anyone around me, but now that I have it I have to squeeze it to the fullest,” Martín concluded about the success.