World Championship leader Jorge Martin scraped through to Q2: “Completely at the limit”

In the MotoGP qualifying session at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, a half-second difference across the entire field determined who would qualify directly for Q2 on Sprint Saturday. Notably, with Ai Ogura absent and Raul Fernandez in P12, only two Aprilias made it straight into Q2 at Misano. Whilst Marco Bezzecchi delivered and even beat Marc Marquez with the fastest time, Jorge Martin found himself ‘only’ in tenth place. The ‘Martinator’ was a good half a second slower than his Italian team-mate.

What are the differences? Martin replied: “If you compare Marco’s and my data here, there isn’t one decisive point. There are very small differences spread across the entire lap.”

Martin admitted: “The real issue is our riding style. I knew I wouldn’t have it easy here, on a track that offers so much more grip than the circuits we’ve raced on recently. But I didn’t expect it to hit me this hard. The balance changes very noticeably with the soft tyres; I wasn’t prepared for that – and that’s what we need to respond to.”

The 2024 champion and current championship leader continued: “In Attack Mode, it really takes its toll on me. I was right at the limit and took a lot of risks to set a good lap time. In the end, though, I was still a long way off what I’m actually capable of. Naturally, I’m not satisfied with that, but that’s how we got the best out of it – now we need to get to work.”

A side note: at the start of qualifying, Jorge Martin tested the new radio technology, which is set to be used by all riders from 2027 onwards. However, during the session, the Aprilia rider decided to do away with the new technology. Martin: “I think the system is generally good, but today it held me back a bit. I wanted to stay fully focused – so I took it off.”

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The situation ahead of Saturday’s 14th sprint of the year: Martin, who holds a 19-point lead, will therefore go into the San Marino GP as championship leader in any case. If Martin were to secure a podium finish in the sprint, whilst Bezzecchi and Marquez came away empty-handed, Martin would in any case leave Italy as the championship leader.