“Very smart” - Massimo Rivola praises Jorge Martin after Assen MotoGP

Massimo Rivola, who was openly critical of Jorge Martin after his Balaton Park mistake, praised the new MotoGP championship leader for doing the right thing at Assen.

Although Martin claimed his first pole position with Aprilia at the Dutch Grand Prix, he lacked the pace of the other RS-GPs in the races and finished fifth in the Sprint.

Martin then led the early stages of Sunday's grand prix before being caught by Trackhouse riders Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura.

Both overtook Martin in the closing laps, but Rivola said it was the smart decision to settle for third rather than take unnecessary risks.

"Very smart"

“I think Jorge did a super lap in qualifying, for his first pole with us,” Rivola said.

“Considering his physical condition, that is not at all 100% [after the Balaton Park crash], I think he did a great race.

“Perfect start, he led the race for many, many laps.

“He couldn’t have done more than that.

“We know that in particular Ai at the end of the race is super strong. And [Jorge] was very smart also to be happy, [settle] for the third position. And not to take any extra risks to resist.

“So, very, very good job from Jorge.”

With team-mate Marco Bezzecchi crashing out on lap two, in an incident labelled as a “mistake” by Rivola, the result also moved Martin into the MotoGP championship lead.

“I think on this race weekend, he extracted the maximum of what he could,” Rivola added.

“You could see that on Friday and even on Saturday morning, he was not so confident with the bike compared to the other three.

“So what did he do this weekend? He showed that when it's time to deliver, he does the right thing.

“That is something very important for the championship.”

Martin, who briefly led the standings after COTA, heads to Sachsenring, the final round before the summer break, with a seven-point advantage over Bezzecchi.