Jorge Martin Triumphs in Australian Sprint but Admits Marc Marquez’s Late Surge Left Him ‘A Bit Scared

Jorge Martin expressed feeling "somewhat frightened" by Marc Marquez's aggressive late push during the Australian sprint. He noted, "Perhaps he was the only one capable of overtaking me."

Sprint victor of the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, Jorge Martin, confessed to feeling "a bit scared" due to the intense pressure applied by Marc Marquez towards the end of Saturday's race.

The Pramac racer excelled in the qualifying session to secure pole position, outperforming Marquez. He then turned this advantage into an early lead during the first lap of the sprint, as Marquez veered off course at Turn 1.

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Marquez fell back to eighth position as Martin established nearly a one-second lead after the initial lap. By the time the Gresini racer moved up to second place on the eighth lap of the 13-lap race, Martin's lead had increased to 3.2 seconds.

Despite Martin managing to maintain his lead and finish 1.520 seconds ahead of Marquez at the finish line, he acknowledges that he remained cautious about the danger presented by the eight-time world champion.

"I’m thrilled. It feels just like last season, but even better," said Martin, who now has a 16-point lead in the championship, during an interview with TNT Sport.

"At the moment, Marc matched my speed, but he had some bad luck at the start of the race."

"Therefore, I believe tomorrow might pose some challenges. However, today is a time to savor. I'm feeling quite well. Initially, it was tough to create a distance from [Marco] Bezzecchi during the opening laps."

Once Pecco Bagnaia moved into second place, I was able to significantly narrow the gap. When I reached a 3.5-second lead, I decided it was sufficient and eased up a little.

The victory was quite challenging as well. Conditions were unpredictable, making each turn vary significantly.

"You have to adjust quickly. All in all, I’m very pleased and we’ll aim to be prepared for tomorrow."

"Absolutely, when Marc moved into second place, I had a three-second lead over him. However, I pushed harder until my lead extended to 3.5 seconds."

"I thought to myself, 'That's it, I've had enough.' I felt a little nervous about Marc since there were still three laps remaining and a three-second gap, so he might have been the one who could overtake me."

"However, I managed to boost it, and from then on, my focus was solely on reaching the finish line."

The majority of the competitors, Martin included, opted for the soft rear tire during the sprint. However, Martin is uncertain about its suitability for the grand prix because there is insufficient data on its performance over longer distances.

"It's hard to determine," Martin responded when questioned about whether he would opt for the soft on Sunday.

"Today went well, without a doubt. By the final laps, I could sense the decline."

"I'm not sure. We didn't get a chance to test the medium, so tomorrow's warm-up might be crucial."

"It's a challenging question and somewhat uncertain. However, there's no doubt that Ducati has excellent engineers who can assist us in making the decision."

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