The Martinator returns
Better late than never as Ducati’s Martin finds his form
Jorge Martin’s return to the podium came after seven races off it – and at the end of a troubled spell in the 2018 Moto3 champion’s premier-class career.
The 24-year-old Spanish rider had been tipped as a shoo-in for the 2023 factory Ducati team. Erratic results and the rise of Enea Bastianini meant that three weeks before the Japanese GP he was told it wasn’t happening.
Now here he was, up on the box again with race-winner Jack Miller – the other ‘wrong’ Ducati rider upsetting the carefully considered factory plans.
Martin looked glum after hearing the news, and chastised Ducati for having turned the season into an undignified battle for the seat between him and Bastianini – rather forgetting that they are in any case engaged in a battle that is more brutal than dignified every time they go out on track. And that while his more successful rival had already won three races and would soon add a fourth; he had just a couple of second places and several crashes to his name.
In truth the difference between the factory Ducati squad and the satellite Pramac team, where he will stay next year, is not unlike that between a KTM and (for example) a GasGas. It’s badge engineering.
He will get the same factory bike and a very similar level of support from factory engineers as if he was in red rather than multicoloured. But it’s also a matter of status and prestige, which in turn counts for money in terms of personal sponsorship.
But last Sunday was proof enough that in terms of results it’s just not that important. The absence of team orders protecting Bagnaia proves that Ducati obviously doesn’t really mind which of their bevy of riders wins, as long as it is one of them.
‘Ducati don’t mind which of their riders win’