The number 89 has clear ideas after the victory in the Sprint: “Winning in Italy is important for me, for the team and for Ducati. My mentality has changed after the Sachsenring”
September 7, 2024
Afterwards with the journalists…
What did you think when you took first place? Did you think you had done most of the work?
“I mean, there were still 13 laps to go. The first position was important at the beginning, from that moment I tried to impose a really strong pace to try to keep Pecco not too close but behind. This was difficult but I managed to do it, we are working in a good way”
Was a good start the key?
“I don’t know, it’s all in the “key”: the “key” is to have a good pace, to go fast in every corner… you can make a good start and finish eighth. You have to be perfect in all areas to win and that’s how it was today, tomorrow will be more difficult, but I’ll do my best”
Is this one of the most important victories?
“Victory is victory and victory is always important, maybe it’s as important as last year’s here. Winning in Italy is important for me, for the team, for Ducati, it’s crucial, but the important thing is to win, not where I win. Tomorrow it will be difficult to win, to maintain first position in every part of the race, but if I have the chance to be first it will be more difficult for the others”
On the first laps…
“Winning from fourth was perfect, it was a bit crazy on the second lap when I had a track limit, after that I was really scared of going out, so I concentrated on making good lines and had a bit of imagination to not go into the white in some corners. I think tomorrow I can push a bit more, but the most important thing is to have the first position”
About the changes made with the bike…
“I can’t say exactly what I did, but I changed the balance of the bike a lot, it was incredible how much we had to change it even today in free practice, I’m improving the feeling a lot with the soft. Tomorrow there’s the possibility that I go with the medium, but there’s still a big question mark, we’ll see what we try in the Warm-Up. If I were to go with the medium we’ll have to review something of the setting from Friday”
Sul set-up base…
“In Aragon we changed a lot and from there we extended it. For me it’s very difficult to have a base, I’m always changing and now the bike is very similar to Le Mans or last year’s. I think we’re finding the way now, we have two base set-ups, depending on the weekend we change them”
Has your mindset changed?
“The important thing is to improve, to learn and for sure I have improved a lot since Germany, my mentality has changed a bit, I am less nervous when a driver is catching me, if he is able to catch me and overtake me, good for him”
How would you sum up your weekend so far?
“We improved a lot in the balance during the free practice, I didn’t feel like I was going to lose the front during the races, so that’s positive, but I always felt on the limit, even if I can control it. That’s important: to feel the limit but not to go over it, sometimes you don’t feel it and you fall”
With a super start Jorge Martin managed to turn his Saturday around with a super start, dominating the Sprint and extending his championship lead by another three points.
On today’s performance…
“After qualifying I was focused on the start, qualifying was 90% of the race and it didn’t go very well, I didn’t think I’d get first place, I was thinking about second place. I wanted to overtake Bez and Franco because I get a better start, Pecco struggled and since I was first I dictated the pace. It was hot, it was difficult, the track limits on the second lap bothered me, I was very focused.
On the possibility of making such a start…
“I always try to visualise the race, to visualise before the start what can come out and all the conditions, I saw that Pecco was getting up early and I thought I would be able to overtake him, but they were a couple of difficult laps”
On the rubber of tomorrow’s race…
“Tomorrow’s tyre is in doubt, everyone says that tomorrow the tyre will be the soft, but let’s see. The medium after a few laps is very good, with the soft you make the difference at the beginning but then you are in difficulty, we’ll see”
