Jorge Martin leaves it too late after admitting ‘we had the potential to win’

Jorge Martin set his best lap of the race on the penultimate lap of the Qatar MotoGP, as he began to reel in Brad Binder for second.

After winning Saturday’s sprint, Martin started from pole once again but lost the lead to Francesco Bagnaia midway through lap one.

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Happy with the podium, Martin felt he could have challenged Bagnaia had he produced a faster pace sooner.

“I’m happy about the result,” began Martin. “If you asked me yesterday, being on the podium today was going to be really tough but maybe we had the potential to win. 

“I’m not 100% happy. I think I was too good on tyres at the beginning of the race and then Pecco overtook me and everything changed a lot because my front pressure went a bit high.

“But the pace was fast and with two laps to go I was able to make two [1m] 52.7 [lap times] to pull away from Marc and nearly catch Brad.

“We will take the positives to Portimao, but I’m not riding 100% of the package with the new bike. If we improve I guess we can be much more competitive.”

While Bagnaia made a habit of starting the main races quickly last season in order to get to the front and control his front tyre pressure, Martin did not expect that to be the case today.

The Prima Pramac rider added: “I expected us to be a bit more calm on the first few laps but as soon as he went to the front he was pushing; not like hell because we couldn't due to the tyres, but he was pushing a lot.

“I tried to be fast but good on the tyres but then I had the battle with Brad which wasn’t helping at all.

“I think I could have been a bit faster but I’m happy. Hopefully we can be faster in Portimao.”

What Martin did do by upping his pace late on was hold of Marc Marquez on his official Ducati debut.

The eight-time world champion caught Martin with a few laps remaining before looking set to challenge the 2023 runner-up for the final podium place.

But unfazed by the pit board which told him number 93 was less than two tenths behind, Martin ultimately gapped Marquez.

Speaking about the tense battle, Martin said: “At that point I had him for 10 laps at 0.3s. But with two laps to go I said ‘okay, now is time to push a bit more’.

“I was already at 98% and then I went at 100% to get this podium and it was worth it. Let’s see if I can have a bit more margin in Portimao.”