On Sunday at the Jerez circuit, Martin from Pramac took the lead early in the race by passing Marquez and Bagnaia in the first two laps.
He was almost a second ahead of Bagnaia on the 11th lap when he suddenly fell off his Ducati GP24 while braking for Turn 6. This was his first time not finishing a race in 2024.
Because of this, Bagnaia won the race and moved up to second place in the championship, just 17 points behind Martin.
Martin was confused by the crash because he was going at the same speed and braking in the same way as before. He was trying to keep a steady pace to stay ahead and save his rear tire.
He said, “I didn’t expect to crash at that pace because I was early into the corner and going straight. We need to understand what happened to avoid it in the future.”
He doesn’t think the crash was because of the tire pressure, even though some riders were penalized for it in Saturday’s sprint race.
After Martin crashed, Bagnaia took the lead and won the race, holding off Marquez in the final laps. This was Bagnaia’s third win in a row at Jerez.
Martin admitted that he couldn’t match Bagnaia’s pace during the race. He said, “I saw he was struggling a bit, but I tried to keep the same pace. Pecco was outstanding today. His pace was amazing.”
