Confidential box: Martin and the ugly duckling story

We review the highlights of the MotoGP French GP preview in a ‘Confidential Box’ with plenty to talk about.

Martin and the story of the ugly duckling

In the current moment of effervescence that the World Cup paddock is experiencing, Jorge Martín has been somewhat relegated to the secondary role of the media. I am generalizing, something I know I shouldn’t do, but with the media stress generated by knowing if Marc Márquez will end up as Pecco Bagnaia’s teammate in the official Ducati team, the sporting part has been left in the background . And if this dynamic is not fair to anyone, it is to Jorge Martín, leader of the World Championship, winner of the sprint race in Qatar, of the long race in Portugal, on the podium in Austin, winner on Saturday in Jerez, where he left on Sunday at the ground when he was leading.

“I’m speaking in court, where I have to speak,” was more or less Jorge’s message yesterday when we peppered him with questions about his future. A future that will not be decided by his performance but depends on the decision that will soon be announced by Ducati, where three riders hope to be chosen as Pecco Bagnaia’s future partner. A balance that gives the impression that it favors Márquez. But what else can Jorge Martín do? Today, as he warned yesterday, he returned to ‘talk on the track’, pulverized the Le Mans record and finished at the top of the classification.

The ‘bug’ inside Márquez was illuminated

Marc Márquez has seven crashes in four GPPPs and one practice session. Asked about this statistic, Marc assured that today’s incident was only due to exceeding the limits of his Ducati, as he attributed the previous incidents to the logical process of adapting to his new motorcycle. But now, finding himself in the worst situation since riding the Ducati, he tries to force the bike to do something it ‘doesn’t want to do’.

Result: collapsed when the places were drawn for Q2, an explosion that I don’t know if it was related to a phrase that Marc said yesterday and went quite unnoticed: “I want them to love me for my results.” Because I have a feeling that Marc wants to capitalize on the impending announcement of his signing with the Ducati factory with his first victory on a Ducati. That’s why tomorrow he has to move on to Q2.

Oh, oh, attention on Sunday

The weather forecast predicts a radical change in the weather on Sunday. Here in Le Mans, at the epicenter of the rainiest region in France, we had a few days in the Mediterranean. Day, the temperatures that lowered the asphalt today to several degrees lower than that seen in Sepang and caused the hardest compound that Michelin brought as chewing gum to remain soft.

In fact, this was the cause of many falls and off-piste seen in the afternoon. But at press conferences this afternoon, where the pilots meet, the topic between them is what the plan is for Sunday.

If what has been announced is confirmed, Sunday could be a hell of water and wind for the pilots, but also for the many thousands of French bikers who gathered at Le Mans this weekend… Fortunately, in the press room it never rains; occupational hazards.