There’s still a lot world and these are motorcycles, races, uncertainty, danger, risk, falls and even injuries. You just have to look at the trajectory and the mishaps that the champion and, once again, favorite for the title, the Italian, has suffered in recent weeks. ‘Pecco’ Bagnaiato know, intuit and suspect that in the twelve remaining races (six ‘sprint’ and six on Sunday) in the six events in Indonesia, next week, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Qatar and Valencia anything can happen. Even that, for the first time since 2001 (Valentino Rossi), a driver wins the title racing in a ‘satellite’ team, not a factory one.
Yes, right, for now, the Madrid native Jorge Martinfrom the ‘satellite’ team Ducati’s Pramac Premium, has subtracted 59 points from Bagnaia in the last races. He is already only three points, a sigh, behind the leader of the Borgo Panigale firm, who, in Barcelona, went to the ground and damaged his legs when Brad Binder’s KTM passed over him and, in India, he fell when I was on the podium. None of that, fortunately, has happened to ‘Martinator’, who, as the champion Marc Márquez, who will probably announce this week his decision whether or not to continue at Honda, recognizes, ‘is going through one of those sweet moments. of your career, in which everything comes out. I know what I am talking about”.
Márquez’s bet
There remain, therefore, 222 points to be distributed and, therefore, three up, three down, are nothing. But someone who knows a lot about this, MM93, and who, in fact, has experienced many moments like this, believes that Martín has become the great favorite for the final victory.
“For me,” said Márquez after getting off the podium in Motegi, Japan, his first ‘drawer’ since Australia-2022, “Martín has become the strongest candidate for the title. The speed of the two is very similar and they both have strong points, but Martín has nothing to lose and Bagnaiaall. Because? Because Martín is not in the official team, Martín is not a world champion and, if he wins, then he wins. And if he comes second, then he comes second. Bagnaia has to win no matter what.”
And, of course, yes, Márquez spoke of the state of grace that drivers, candidates, favorites for victory or the title sometimes acquire. “When you have that extra concentration and speed, everything comes out and you have that ‘feel’ with the bike. Here, in Japan, we have seen it, well, in Silverstone, in the middle of the season, they both had a hard time driving fast on water and this Sunday they were both the fastest. You have to be at that extra point. Pilots are people and we need to have that tension and that extra point. Sometimes that hurts, but it helps the champions,” the driver from Cervera (Lleida) concluded by saying.
“When you are in a state of grace, when you have that extra, everything comes out. Martín is going through a great moment”
In statements to the newspaper ‘As’, Aleix Espargaró, a close friend of ‘Martinator’, with whom he trains daily in Andorra, fully shares the idea of Marquez. What’s more, he gives a very clear example of the extraordinary moment that his friend, the driver of the Prima Pramac team, is going through: the first Motegi training session on Friday.
“I see Jorge very well,” says the eldest of the Espargaró brothers. “For me, I like to analyze everything a lot, the confidence with which you see him drive is incredible. For me, An example that this year he is going to take the title is Free Practice 1 that Jorge did here, in Motegi. It is worthy of analysis. The free kick he made and the speed he had at the start is spectacular. It takes us almost a second when it hits the ground and falls. I had already done 45.1 when we were all at 46 and that in Free Practice 1 is a clearer indication almost than a race. I hope it can continue like this.”