Jorge Martin sends 'not afraid' message as Marc Marquez threat grows
Martin insists he has no fear as Marquez closes in (Credit: Apex Agency)
15:45, 31 Aug
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Connor Andrews is Formula 1 and MotoGP writer for GPblog and various outlets. Having worked in motorsport for 15 years for leading companies, he has interviewed the sports biggest names and attended multiple Grands Prix.
Jorge Martin has arguably the greatest rider of all time breathing down his neck, but he insists he isn’t bothered.
The MotoGP championship leader saw his 40-point lead over Marc Marquez reduced to just 19 after the nine-time champion won both the sprint and Grand Prix in Aragon.
Marquez slashes Martin's MotoGP championship advantage
Marquez went from fourth to second in the championship at a track where he often dominates, doing so while still suffering from shoulder pain from an in-season operation.
Martin, meanwhile, could only take fifth in both the sprint and feature race, while Aprilia teammate Marco Bezzecchi was fighting for victory.
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The Italian was also suffering from injury pain, but Martin isn’t looking for any excuses, and insisted he’s not concerned about his Aragon performance becoming a theme.
Martin: 'I'm not afraid of anything'
“Honestly, I'm not afraid of anything; I focus on myself,” he told Sky Italia.
“I think the upcoming races will be very good for me. Right now we're leading the championship, and we need to keep working to stay there until the end.
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“Maybe fourth place was the best I could have achieved. At one point I lost some time, and near the end of the race I was catching Alex [Marquez].
“I thought about taking some risks to gain one more position, but then I had a couple of moments where I almost crashed, so I decided to stay in fifth.
“Maybe fourth was the maximum possible result, but I did what I could. The important thing is that little by little I felt better, and that's what matters.”
“Honestly, I'm not afraid of anything; I focus on myself."- Jorge Martin
The 2024 champion has won just a single Grand Prix this year, at Le Mans in Round 5, but he then went pointless in two of the three following races.
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Since then, Martin has prioritised consistency, but that may have to change with Marquez and Bezzecchi on form.
Explaining why he’s confident he can do so, the Spaniard didn’t make any excuses, citing Aprilia’s improvements and applauding the bike.
Martin backs Aprilia to respond at Misano
“In the end my goal is always to build, to improve,” he said.
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“I think that from the way we started the weekend to the way we finished it, we made good progress.
“It's a shame we couldn't find more speed, that's disappointing, but I think I was closer to the riders in front than I was on Friday, so we've done a good job.
“For me, the bike is a bike that works very well, but there are some tracks where we suffer.
“We tried to stay fairly calm with the setup and actually changed very little, but maybe this was a track where we should have changed a bit more.
“In any case, I think we need to take the positives from this weekend and go back to Misano with the bike that was working well at Silverstone.
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“Misano is a track with grip, a circuit where I think our bike can perform much better, at least for me. So I'm happier with the information we've gathered over these 14 races and everything we've learned that can help us be fast at Misano than I am with today's race itself.”
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Friday 04.09.26
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