Jorge Martin says a lack of grip was at the heart of a “difficult” Aragon MotoGP round.
After going 1-2 at the Silverstone MotoGP, Jorge Martin entered Aragon with momentum, but he leaves with two fifths while his closest title rivals closed in.
Martin’s Aragon was not catastrophic, he still holds a 19-point lead over Marc Marquez heading to Misano in two weeks’ time and 24 points over his Aprilia Racing team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.
But compared to Silverstone, where he had the pace to win both MotoGP races, at Aragon he was without the potential to contend for the podium over either half- or full-distance.
In the end, two top-fives were something to be happy about for Martin, who felt that was the maximum available to him.
“It was difficult, but nothing different from what I expected,” Jorge Martin said of his race at Aragon.
“I was trying to be optimistic and maybe with a good start I was able to do something else, but I couldn't.
“Today the maximum was top-five and I'm happy that I took the maximum. I really want to move forward and think about Misano.”
Martin added that he knew from Friday that he couldn’t challenge for the podium.
“After Silverstone for sure my feeling was a bit better, so I expected maybe to fight for the podium,” he said, “but Friday already I saw that I couldn't.
“I knew that the top-five already was going to be difficult, so I'm happy that at least I was closer today to the podium than yesterday.”
The problem, as it was on Saturday, was grip, he said: “The grip overall was my limit during all the weekend. I was struggling a lot with the grip.
“I think towards the [halfway point] of the race or end of the race I was feeling a bit better. I was able to catch a little bit Alex [Marquez].
“I think overall I'm happy with that, but this is the maximum achievement I could do.
“Today, as I said before, top-five was the maximum and I took the points. I prefer that [than] to take some risks and crash. This is what I think I need to do at the moment.
