Jorge Martin says he has no explanation for his exit from the MotoGP German Grand Prix, after crashing out from a front-running position for a third time in the 2024 season.
Pramac rider Martin was on his way to claiming a third Sunday win of the year at the Sachsenring on Sunday, but tucked the front-end of his Ducati at Turn 1 at the start of the penultimate tour and ended up in the gravel.
The crash not only handed his title rival Francesco Bagnaia a surprise victory in Germany, but also a 10-point lead in the standings heading into next month’s British GP after a three-week summer break.
The Spaniard’s error is being looked at critically, as he previously gave away another victory in Jerez at the end of April, while also losing points for a likely third-place finish with a fall in the Italian GP sprint last month.
A crash during last year’s Indonesian Grand Prix also came during a crucial part of the title run-in and contributed to Martin losing the championship to Bagnaia.
Speaking after his latest shunt in round nine of 20, the 26-year-old said he needed to sit down and understand the root cause of his crashes that have the potential to derail his title challenge.
“I cannot explain to you the crash, it's really difficult to understand,” he said. “For sure I was surprised about the crash.
“It's a really important day in my career because it's time to learn from this. Jerez crash, Mugello crash and this crash are completely the same so there is something.
“I don't know if it's my style, I don't know it's in my head, I don't know what but something is there that is making me crash [repeatedly].
“So I need to take my time, analyse, learn and get back up.”
Martin had started the race from pole position but lost the lead to Bagnaia at the end of lap two, after the factory Ducati rider pulled a move on him going into the last corner.
However Martin was able to come back at him on lap seven and was running well clear of Bagnaia when he fell off his Pramac-run Ducati at Turn 1 at the start of lap 29 of 30.
Martin said he felt able to control the pace out front before the crash, which he admitted was hard to accept.
“Today I could stop the bike perfectly, [Bagnaia] was struggling a bit more on the right,” he explained.
“I think he was struggling more than me [while] pushing on the bike. I was just really constant, I was trying to be clever.
“It's a mistake, there is no excuse. It's a big mistake, it's painful.
“It's really frustrating, it's difficult to accept, but it is what it is.
“What great riders do is to learn from mistakes and bad races. I will do that.”
Martin was set for a perfect weekend at the Sachsenring before his late crash, having claimed pole position with a new lap record and outduelled Bagnaia for victory in Saturday’s sprint.
It had looked like the perfect response from Martin after Bagnaia had topped all sessions but the warm-up at the previous weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Assen, before the crash changed the complexion of their title battle again.
Martin warned his rivals that it would be “very difficult” for them to beat him if he is able to cut down on his mistakes in the second half of the campaign.
“I wasn't the king of the paddock two laps before and I'm not the worst one now,” he said.
“It's two laps difference, this is racing, this can happen. I'm the same rider as two laps before the end.
“I think I did an amazing weekend. Pole record. Then winning the sprint and today I almost won.
“It was really difficult for the others to catch me. So for sure if I improve this it will be difficult to beat me.”
