Jorge Martín is on the ropes. The Madrid driver will arrive in Valencia, for the last race of the season, 21 points behind Pecco Bagnaia after a calamitous race in Qatar. The Ducati Pramac rider suffered grip problems with his tires and could only finish 10th in Lusail. As luck would have it, Fabio di Giannantonio snatched the victory from Pecco Bagnaia and prevented the leader from leaving Qatar with a 26-point lead.
“I have been able to mark more distance with Jorge and arriving with these points (21) in València is very important,” commented Bagnaia, moral winner of Qatar, since on Saturday after the Sprint he had Martín only 7 points behind and he leaves with 21 .
Tension again on the starting grid, with all the focus on the second row, with Bagnaia fourth and Martín, fifth. The traffic lights went out and misfortune broke out for the Madrid native, who skidded at the start, his Ducati lurched twice, and he lost three positions, from 5th to 8th, behind his teammate Zarco, while Bagnaia left. like an exhalation, jumping into first position into the first corner. The champion left Marini behind and began to open a gap to build his escape, in three laps he was half a second ahead of the Ducati VR46.
Martín had to go back up to reach Valencia alive. It was not until the third lap that he managed to gain a position, that of his neighbor Zarco. He had Marc Márquez, Binder, Di Giannantonio, Àlex Márquez and Marini ahead of him to reach Bagnaia; five hard bones.
Jorge Martín looked in a hurry, as he had a hard time getting close to Márquez. On the straight, due to the top speed of his Ducati, he left the Honda behind (v. 5/22) and rose to 6th place. His next challenge was to surpass Marini, 1.3 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Bagnaia exhibited all his strength, with half a second on Di Giannantonio, his immediate pursuer.
At that moment, virtually, Bagnaia put Martín up 22 points overall in the World Cup, a painful blow for the Spaniard, who saw how Marini was getting further and further away (3s in v. 11/22).
Martín’s life became complicated halfway through the race (v. 11/22) when Maverick Viñales and Marc Márquez overtook him in one fell swoop, sending him to eighth place. The Madrid native suffered from obvious tire problems, which limited his performance. He fell 24 points behind Bagnaia in the provisional general standings.
Everything could get worse, and it did get much worse. Jorge was an easy prey and he found himself devoured by Quartararo and Miller, who sent him to 9th place. Only Zarco stayed behind him, respectful so as not to deduct points. The sangria was 18 with the Italian. That was 19 when Bastianini also surpassed him, which delayed him to a pathetic 10th place.
The only hope for Martín was that Bagnaia would not win the race, that Di Giannantonio would take 5 points away from him, taking the victory from him. Gresini’s driver was only a tenth behind the leader, with six laps to go.
And the Madrid native’s prayers to heaven had their effect: with four laps remaining, Di Giannantonio, who does not have Ducati for next year, took revenge on the Borgo Panigale factory by easily overtaking the leader, the official rider. “It’s a real revenge, it’s for all those who have doubted me,” DiGi signed his vendetta, which deprived Bagnaia of leaving the title half sentenced: from 26 points that he took from Martín, he went to 21. A little more life for the Madrid native in Valencia.
