Jorge Martin: You can push like hell on the Ducati!
MotoGP rookie Jorge Martin insists he won't be changing his targets for the upcoming races, despite a stunning pole position and podium in Qatar.
The Pramac Ducati, who had finished just 15th - despite a rocket start - on his MotoGP debut a week earlier, led for 18 of the 22 laps of the Doha round before Yamaha race winner Fabio Quartararo and Martin's team-mate Johann Zarco squeezed past.
"Everything can happen in racing," Martin said. "You can win or you can be like last weekend when I was 15th.
"For sure I wasn’t expecting to be in pole position and a podium in my second race [but] I think my target remains the same, to be in the top ten.
"Now we go to [Portimao] a track where I've barely ridden. I need to understand the bike, I need to understand a lot of things.
"For the moment, being in the top ten is good enough for me. Maybe after seven races in the middle of the season my target will be a bit higher."
Martin, the 2018 Moto3 champion, was signed by Ducati for 2021 before the start of last season, when he was yet to even win a race in the Moto2 class.
The Spaniard went on to take two Moto2 victories last season for the Red Bull Ajo team, but saw his title hopes damaged when he missed two races due to Covid and had to settle for fifth overall.
MotoGP's truncated pre-season test program, combined with the Qatar weather, then left Martin and the other rookies with less than five days to learn their machines before the opening round.
"Actually, since the first test I felt quite okay with the Ducati," he said of the factory-sec GP21. "I wasn’t competitive but every day I was a bit closer. From 1.2, then 1.0, then 0.9, and now I’m on the podium.
"The Ducati is the best bike I ever rode because you can push like hell! You can go to the limit in an unbelievable way. You can brake really late. You can turn so fast. I really enjoy this moment. I’m enjoying my riding style with this bike."
Helping the 23-year-old make such constant progress is a difficult start to his Moto2 career on a KTM chassis in 2019, before Ajo switched to Kalex in 2020.
"I think the main thing to be a bit more comfortable with the Ducati after such a short time is that with the Moto2 I tried seven frames in four races," he revealed.
"For a rookie in Moto2, trying so many different bikes my first year was a bit difficult. It was really tough to understand every manoeuvre the factory did in that year.
"Anyway, I think with Ducati, when you are a rookie, you just need to make laps, try to understand the bike and get used to the bike.
"Not try to put the bike to your style, at least at the beginning.
"For sure, when we develop a bit more the bike and also my style, we need to get both in the same line, but for the moment the bike is working well and that’s why I feel comfortable."
Martin finished sixth at last November's Portimao Moto2 season finale. He currently leads the 2021 MotoGP Rookie of the Year standings by six points over reigning Moto2 champion Enea Bastianini, who rides a GP19 for Esponsorama Ducati.
