Despite World Championship lead: Jorge Martin puzzles over loss of form

– Jorge Martin achieved mainly one thing at the Sachsenring before the summer break: damage limitation. The Aprilia rider finished the German Grand Prix in fifth place, taking important points with him.

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But while the result looks solid on paper, Martin was not satisfied with his current performance level. The current championship leader sees his position less as a result of his own dominance, but rather as a consequence of the mistakes of his immediate competitors.

“It was a solid weekend, and it is always important to finish a race. I got the maximum possible points,” Martin explains in retrospect.

At the same time, he makes it clear that the current situation does not meet his expectations: “We are very far away from the others and also very far away from the other Aprilias. On the one hand, that is good because it means the bike works. But there is something we do not understand correctly.”

The mystery of the lost speed

Martin is particularly concerned about the comparison with the start of the season. In the first races, the Aprilia felt much better to him; now he lacks consistency. The Spaniard believes that the base of the bike must be rediscovered with which he was competitive at the beginning of the year.

“I don’t know why I felt much better at the start of the season, but now I am losing some speed. We have to get back to where I think we can be,” Martin puzzles over the lost momentum.

The search for the cause leads him mainly to the setup of the RS-GP. While other riders, according to his assessment, have found a clear working basis, his team is still in an experimental phase.

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“I think we are now quite far away from the bike we had in the first part of the season in Austin, Brazil, and Le Mans. I see that the other riders are more stable with their bikes. They know what they have and just ride.” On his side, the team has recently often tried to adapt the machine to different tracks. But maybe that is exactly the problem.

Martin sees the solution in a detailed analysis of the successful and difficult weekends. “We have to look at when I was fast, what worked, and when I was slow, what didn’t work. After that, we have to continue working in this direction,” he sets the course.

Current championship lead, but with a warning signal

Despite the problems, Martin is at the top of the world championship at the halfway point. A situation he would have signed for immediately in January. Nevertheless, the Aprilia rider warns against resting on this, especially since the lead is not large.

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“If you had told me in January that I would be leading the world championship halfway through the season, I would have signed immediately,” says Martin. But the joy about it is not the decisive point. “Of course, I am happy because it is always a nice feeling to be in front. But I think it is rather secondary.”

“Now we have to find the speed because I can lead now, but if I continue to race like this, I will not stay in front for long,” the Spaniard knows.

Martin still sees the situation positively. The potential is there, and the championship remains completely open. “We had a great first part of the season. I was very confident. The last races were more difficult, but I know the potential is high,” he remains combative.

At the same time, he admits that his lead partly resulted from mistakes by the competition: “Maybe I lead more because of the mistakes of others than because of my own results. But I lead, and we have to keep working.”

Regaining confidence, not just on the bike

For Martin himself, the weekends in Barcelona and at the Balaton proved particularly difficult. Crashes also set him back again in his physical condition.

“Barcelona was maybe the moment after so many crashes when something clicked. Mugello was then very strong. Hungary was a difficult weekend [with the start crash]. After that, I had this problem with my back, and maybe from that point on, I lost some confidence.”

At the Sachsenring itself, however, there was no lack of confidence. Rather, Martin reached a limit with the current setup. “I knew we had to push the limit a bit because I especially struggled with the front.”

Therefore, besides the technology, he also holds himself accountable: “We have to work on that, maybe also on my style, and understand how I can be faster.”

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