Saturday, November 2, 2024, 08:26
| Updated 11:49 a.m.
Jorge Martín has taken a giant step to secure what would be his first title in MotoGP. The Spaniard has increased his lead in the general standings by 12 points after his victory in the sprint this Saturday in Malaysia and the zero of his rival, Pecco Bagnaia, who crashed on the third lap while following the Spaniard. The 29 points he has earned allow him to have an unexpected cushion, with two races and a sprint remaining (62 points at stake), so the driver from San Sebastián de los Reyes will have his first title ball on Sunday at the Sepang circuit.
By adding 9 points more than his rival, he would be champion; and that would happen, for example, by winning and having his rival finish third. But there are many more possible combinations and more opportunities to seal it and now is not the time to rush, as Martín himself recognized. «I don’t think about it. Obviously, I would like to close it now, but it is very complicated, I depend on another mistake from Pecco or a bad result from him. Without making any mistakes, Pecco can win or the two can be very even. So it will be very difficult to close it on Sunday and I have to stay focused.”
Until that crash in the third lap, the Malaysian weekend was being a monologue with Pecco Bagnaia, who had dominated each and every one of the sessions, including a spectacular Q2 in which the two title candidates were a world away. of the rest. Martín had set a stratospheric time, which the Italian had counteracted at the last moment with the fastest lap ever taken on the Sepang circuit. Third on the grid, Álex Márquez, had finished almost a second behind. So another one-on-one between Bagnaia and Martín was expected.
Martín’s start
Before departure, a solemn minute of silence was observed for the victims of Valencia. Some drops also appeared that did not wet the hot Sepang asphalt, but did increase the tension between the contenders. The rain didn’t get any worse and at the start Bagnaia and Martín paired up, arriving parallel to the first corner. Due to his position on the grid, the Spaniard had the inside and by braking at the same point as his rival, he would come out ahead. They both braked very late, but Martín took the lead, leading the race and setting an explosive pace from the first lap. Bagnaia stuck to his wheel and behind them, a Marc Márquez who had come back from fifth position to join the train of the fastest, although the difficult thing would be to stay with them.
It was a matter of time before Bagnaia took action, but before that happened, in the third of the ten laps of the sprint, the Italian made a mistake in turn 9 and went to the ground, leaving more than half of himself on the road. championship. «I entered a little slower than the previous lap and I made the corner a little tighter. “There I hit a pothole and my front end closed.” Desolate, Bagnaia recognized that it had become very difficult for him to revalidate the crown. “Jorge knows perfectly well that he is the only one who can lose this title, so I can only win and hope that Bastianini or Márquez get in the way.”
It will be difficult because in Sepang the pace of the first two was much higher than the rest. In fact, when Martín was told that his rival had fallen, he dropped his pace by almost half a second and was still able to keep Márquez on the wheel. “I had doubts about whether to let him pass, but I preferred to stay ahead and if Marc caught me, let him overtake me.” He did not hit the one from Cervera and Martín celebrated another sprint victory, the most important, but also the least celebrated, with the victims of Valencia always in the memory.
Also, a valuable second position for Márquez ahead of Bastianini on a circuit where he has been seen suffering since Friday, but in the race he always gets more. «Just because I don’t like this track doesn’t mean that we give up, but rather that we have to work harder than necessary. But even so, Pecco and Jorge are one or two steps ahead,” said the Catalan, who does not expect to fight for victory on Sunday, but does, at least against Bastianini, with whom he is competing for third position in the championship. and is 13 points ahead.
Álex Márquez confirmed his great Saturday with fourth position in the sprint, ahead of Fabio Quartararo, who also confirmed the step forward taken by Yamaha in the last few grands prix. Morbibelli finished sixth, with three other KTMs closing the points positions: Binder, Miller and Pedro Acosta, who was blocked behind the Australian, unable to pass him on the track.
The qualifications were also held in the small categories, where there is no longer anything at stake after the titles of Alonso and Ogura. In Moto3, the pole went to Adrián Fernández from Madrid; and in Moto2, by the Valencian Jorge Navarro who, as it could not be otherwise, dedicated himself to the ‘terreta’.
