Well, we already have him here, stalling the leader, Pecco Bagnaia. Jorge Martín won again in Japan, a double triumph in Saturday’s Sprint and in Sunday’s race, which was flooded and reduced to half the laps due to the lack of visibility and the risk of hydroplaning. So, in his unstoppable climb, the Madrid driver cut 5 more points off the leader, second in Motegi, 10 over the whole weekend, and he’s closing in on just 3. At the next GP, the one in Indonesia, he could already to storm the lead, after cutting 63 points to the Italian in three and a half races.
Jorge Martín, in his third year in MotoGP, shot off in search of his first world title. He wasn’t playing catch in Montmeló when he stated in an interview with this newspaper that “of course” he could fight for the crown with Bagnaia when he was 66 points behind the Italian after the S sprint of the Catalunya GP. In that Sunday race he began his climb, which has been fabulous: 16 points at the Circuit, 14 in Misano (with a double), 23 in India (with Pecco’s zero in the long race) and 10 more in Motegi; 63 points in four weekends. A wild ride that speaks of the perseverance, consistency and ambition of the pilot from Sant Sebastián de los Reyes, resident in Andorra.
“There is still a lot of World Cup left [six GPs] but if I had thought about the championship I wouldn’t have won. I enjoy the moment. Today was a day in which I had more to lose than to win, but I came out winning”, said the Madrid native, who signed a superb performance in the wet, his first victory in water in MotoGP: to maintain the preferred position in the departure on the wet asphalt with smooth tires, to leave the track to avoid the fall in the first lap that they did with scratched tires. A mistake that relegated him to 9th place after he was overtaken by Aleix Espargaró, Márquez, Bezzecchi, Bagnaia, Miller and Di Giannantonio. He ended up overtaking them all.
Martín’s comeback was spectacular to first place in just four laps. In the sixth turn Bagnaia and Espargaró overtook, and in a few corners opened a gap of 7 tenths. The Madrid player was automatically the leader of the World Cup by a single point over the Turinese. But Bagnaia, aware of what was at stake, also advanced the Aprilia and recovered 4 points and the lead in the World Championship.
Meanwhile, at the back, Márquez cheered and reached third position after passing Oliveira and Bezzecchi, the track becoming more and more impassable. Correctly, race management took out the red flag and the test was stopped after only half the laps had been completed (12 out of 24). They returned to the track minutes later to complete the 12 laps, but a new red flag ended the race due to lack of visibility and excessive water.
“It was starting to be too dangerous”, said Bagnaia, who saved the lead and left Japan relieved. “That way it tastes better [to be 2nd in these conditions]. I’m not a mage in water, so being 2nd is very important; in addition, I was cutting the distance to Jorge and my pace was increasing, I could overtake him”, encouraged a Pecco who is starting to see Martín’s shadow too big. In Indonesia, it might end up devouring him.
