Martin’s 100% podium end report in 2024 got here to an finish final Sunday on the Americas Grand Prix when he was overtaken for third by Ducati’s Enea Bastianini on the penultimate lap.
Whereas the Pramac rider’s lead was reduce, he nonetheless holds a 21-point lead over Bastianini heading to subsequent week’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Reigning double world champion Bagnaia received the Qatar GP however missed the dash podium in Portugal because of a mistake whereas main earlier than a collision took him out of that GP.
And in Austin, Bagnaia struggled for grip on his strategy to sixth within the dash and battled chatter points within the GP to solely come away with fifth to path Martin by 30 factors.
Regardless of this, Martin believes Bagnaia remains to be the favorite for this 12 months’s championship however believes the struggle is far more open than it was in 2023.
“I don’t know, I feel there are lots of riders who could be preventing for the championship,” he mentioned.
“I feel nonetheless Pecco is the favorite as a result of he received final season, he’s the primary.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“So, now we simply have to be… I imply, the rivals are robust. We now have Marc [Marquez], we now have even Pedro [Acosta], who is absolutely, actually good and fixed.
“So, we by no means know. Enea was tremendous robust all weekend. The vital factor is we’re quick all over the place, and we have to be targeted on that.”
In a threatening place to take command early within the championship after the opening rounds, Martin stresses that that is of little concern to him proper now.
“For certain, I don’t look for the time being to that,” he mentioned of his place within the standings.
“I don’t like to consider that. However the factors we’re doing are for that reason. I’m completely satisfied about that.
“I’m completely satisfied that we now have 80 factors already, it’s quite a bit.
“I feel we now have to be completely satisfied and preserve this line, or this manner, as a result of we’re working fairly properly and specializing in ourselves and enhancing the outcomes from final season.
“This can be a observe the place I struggled on previously and this weekend we obtained various factors, and for certain it’s higher to be within the lead than tenth.”
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