Jorge Martín came to the Austrian Grand Prix with a desire to compete and score points in the World Cup standings. On Saturday he managed the first but not the second, before the new performance of Pecco Bagnaia, who was inflexible on the official Ducati and clearly won the sprint race after securing pole position in the morning. The Madrid man, who vociferously campaigned for his dethronement, endured a real emotional rollercoaster after a bad rating that forced him to come back in a stage marked by his aggressiveness.
The 25-year-old rider, who finished on the podium behind Italian and South African KTM rider Brad Binder, was involved in the day’s two big incidents and struggled to control his machine while struggling with a real thrill . “I’m still in shock, I don’t know what happened. “I started crying, I didn’t understand anything,” he confessed over the “DAZN” mics, overwhelmed and exhausted after crossing the finish line in third place, even assuming he was waiting for him a penalty was displayed (long). lap) in the middle of the race. “In the first corner I saw a lot of people, a lot of people fell and I got nervous, I didn’t know who was to blame,” he said. After starting at full speed from 12th place, Martín entered the first corner in 6th place and pushed the inside to the limit. The big-nosed funnel that formed while braking on the finish line at the Red Bull Ring ended in a strike. “He beats everyone!” exclaimed Marco Bezzecchi, Bagnaia’s other alternative in the tournament standings, after watching the replay from his garage. “Martin!” he shouted.
The five-rider race was ruined in the blink of an eye after the accident, which is still under investigation by the stewards. Martín touched Fabio Quartararo at the apex, he couldn’t avoid Maverick Viñales, who started second, and the Roses man then ran into Bezzecchi, Miguel Oliveira and Johann Zarco. The Madrid man escaped unscathed despite the strong note and made his way to the front of the race, trying to turn the tide.
On lap five, the Pramac rider came into contact with Jack Miller and Luca Marini, fighting for the podium. The Australian braked too quickly and Martín took the opportunity to join Valentino Rossi’s brother’s Ducati, a luxury spectator at the foot of the track in Austria. On lap seven he decided to push the bike to the limit again in the chicane and the Italian went down. Standing yards from the action, the retired legend and owner of Team VR46 raised her hands to her head at the disaster of her own.
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“As I passed Marini, I felt the touch and thought maybe I was going to get the long penalty, so I ended up pushing like crazy,” admitted Martín. The stewards said it was a racing incident but in a similar action they penalized Quartararo with a long lap for throwing Aprilia’s guest Lorenzo Salvadori. Marini saw the repetition in the penalty area. Without the same urgency as his partner Bezzecchi, he shrugged in front of the cameras and ended the discussion.
Binder and Zarco take a step
In the midst of flirting with Marc Márquez and his 2024 seat chaos, which has five riders under contract for four bikes, KTM announced the extension of Binder through 2026. The 28-year-old South African is the first rider in the de Mattighofen brand’s academy to complete his path to MotoGP in the same colours, becoming the first premier-class winner in the factory’s history in 2020. He has since clinched just one more win under a downpour of worry on the same stage than this weekend in 2021.
Another who made a move on Saturday was Johann Zarco, who resented the treatment he received at Ducati despite being fifth in the table. The 33-year-old Frenchman, the rider in history with the most podiums (19) without claiming a win, is finalizing details on a two-year deal with the Honda satellite team to fill the position vacated by Álex Rins on his tenure occupy Yamaha.
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