Jorge Martin angrily puts Enea Bastianini on his worries about ugly overtake sets ‘no consequence’ precedent
Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin says he will approach his riding differently if last lap passes like Enea Bastianini’s in the Emilia-Romagna Motorcycle Grand Prix go unpunished.
Martin took the lead away from Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia on Lap 4 and controlled the lion’s share of the race until the final lap at Misano.
Bagnaia’s teammate Bastianini got to second on Lap 5 and kept Martin in his crosshairs, and on the final lap the #23 rider lunged the leading #89 at Turn 4 to take top spot away.
Martin was left disgruntled by the move and made his feelings known immediately after and as he crossed the finish line, making a bras d’honneur gesture.
Post-race, the Pramac Racing rider expressed his disappointment.
“I think there was no room to make that manoeuvre,” said Martin.
“There is not a lot of sense to keep talking about it because it won’t change anything.
“For sure, I think I deserve that victory. At least, if he makes a move, at least do it clean and don’t touch me.”
The pass was not investigated by MotoGP stewards, despite contact from Bastianini who also appeared to exceed track limits.
Gresini Racing’s Marc Marquez, a champion of six premier class titles, said Bastianini’s move was not fair, noting that Bastianini had exceeded track limits in his view.
However, even if Bastianini had been given a post-race long-lap penalty, Martin had backed off so much that it would not have changed the race result.
“I saw a replay. Enea was out of the track, also. So for me, it’s not good for the championship looking for our interest,” Marquez explained.
“For me, if Enea was out of the track too, [you should] drop one position because when you do an aggressive overtake, if you are inside the track it’s no problem, but if you go out of the track then it means drop one position.
“I’m not agreeing with that decision (to not penalise Bastianini). It’s not good for our interests, the championship, but it’s like this.”
Martin said he is not the type of rider to pass so aggressively but said stewards had opened the door to a repeat.
“As Marc said, if he would stay on the track – okay. I went wide, that’s okay, but he was outside,” said Martin.
“We speak sometimes with race direction but it’s not always clear. It’s not always constant.
“I said before, I guess next time if I need to do it, at least for me it should be no consequence.
“Let’s see in the future. I’m not the rider that really overtakes like this but I respect the decision and I move forward.”
MotoGP resumes on September 27-29 at the Mandalika International Street Circuit for the Grand Prix of Indonesia.
