When Pramac Racing announced that hotly-tipped rising star Jorge Martin would be riding for it in the 2021 MotoGP championship, few expected that the young Spaniard would be a race winner in his first season even with the considerable speculation that he would be one of the next big stars of the series.
But the odds on him getting a pole in his rookie season would’ve been very difficult, because while he might not have always shone as a immediate race winner in a new category, he’s always been incredible capable of performing when it comes to time attack mode.
In fact, in a 99-race Grand Prix career prior to joining the premier class at the start of 2021, Martin had taken the top spot in qualifying 21 times, averaging a rate of over one fifth of all the races he’s started.
He won so many Tissot watches en route to lifting the Moto3 crown in 2018 that he could have opened his very own jewellers’ shop, taking 11 of the 19 on offer.
So we knew coming into the year that he’d be able to switch on time attack mode on the Pramac Ducati by the end of the year – and, of course, we didn’t have to wait that long as Martin took the top spot in qualifying at only his second ever MotoGP race in Qatar.
Since then, he’s topped the timesheets another three times, including for last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, a result he handily converted into a win – and a feat that he’s looking to repeat again this weekend as he starts the Austrian Grand Prix from the front of the pack.
So what is it exactly that makes Martin so incredibly fast over one lap? It’s a question that many of his rivals would love to know the answer to – but Martin himself admits that it’s not something even he’s entirely sure of, beyond the fact he puts an enormous amount into those flying laps.
“Normally I’m fast in a hot lap, but I’m not exactly sure why,” he said when asked about his qualifying speed by The Race.
“I think I can put all my energies into just one lap.
“When I finish this lap, I’m even more tired than I am after a race.
“I don’t know how, but I can put all my strength and all my focus into that lap.”
It’s a skill that’s served him well time and again in the past, and looks like it’ll reward him again at the Red Bull Ring when the lights go out for the race.
A clear favourite thanks to last weekend’s performance and his record-breaking pole time, it’s his race to lose – but that doesn’t seem to be worrying the 23-year-old too much.
The latest pole came despite crashes in both third and fourth practice, and Martin struggling with the bike’s set-up initially – leading to him having to come through Q1 to even reach the pole shootout.
A slow and strange crash for @88jorgemartin! 💥
Just when he was about to get out of the gravel, he highsides but thankfully he's okay! 💪#MotoGP | #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/LbQD9FVzhm
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 14, 2021
“Unfortunately it was a really difficult day for me,” he explained, “because as soon as I started the day I was feeling really bad with the bike with the same setting as last week.
“I don’t know why, but I couldn’t brake and I had no grip in acceleration.
“I tried a bit too much in FP3 and had a crash in the last corner.
“I was missing a bit of confidence in FP4, but we made some changes to the bike in the front and the rear and I felt good with used tyres.
“My pace was good all the day, and I can see the other riders who are quite competitive but we worked well today.
“I was a bit nervous in qualifying because you always take a risk going through Q1, but I did an amazing job with the lap time in conditions that were really different to the morning.
“I was confident, and I could beat the lap record. I’m living the dream and I’m confident we can fight for the win tomorrow.”
And while he might have found his confidence again en route to obliterating the Red Bull Ring lap record in qualifying, he also admitted afterwards that he believes his slow start to the day means that there was potentially a little more left out on track.
“It’s never perfect – you can always improve!” he joked afterwards.
“I was missing only a little bit in the last corner, because I went a bit wide.
“I remembered the morning’s crash and I relaxed a little and released the brakes because I didn’t want to crash – but maybe there was half a tenth left there!”
