Martin: Bastianini ‘just another rider, I would have done the same to Pecco’
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Martin, who ed out of third position at the beginning of the final lap – remounted to claim tenth in the end – was embroiled in an early tussle with Bastianini, who started from pole. The fight between both riders was unsurprisingly intense as they came close to contact more than once. But just as the pair looked set to continue their fight for several laps, Bastianini instead came undone when he suffered a broken front wheel on the curbs between turn nine and ten. On the following lap Bastianini was slow on the exit of turn three which cost Johann Zarco several positions as the Pramac rider had to take avoiding action. The Gresini Ducati man then ran through the gravel at turn four when his brakes faded as a result of the broken wheel.In a position to fight for the win early on, Bastianini was left frustrated by his unfortunate DNF, but also his battle with Martin: “I battled a lot with Jorge [Martin] and he was very competitive today. He was very aggressive with me but we know that it’s normal. “Too bad, because we had a great pace at the beginning and maybe Martin shouldn’t have overtaken me.” “When I passed him back at the exit of turn nine I ended up on the kerb and the rim broke. What caused Jack Miller to say ‘it looks like I’m going at Granny speed’?”This is definitely the DNF we didn’t need, especially because we had the pace to win or at least to get on the podium.”Related What caused Jack Miller to say ‘it looks like I’m going at Granny speed’? ‘He will for sure say something’ – Bagnaia goes against Rossi advice…Austrian MotoGP: Martin responds to Bastianini…Asked about his battle with Bastianini and whether it was a little bit more personal given what’s at stake between the two riders, Martin told MotoGP.com “No! It was [just] another rider in front of me and I would have done the same if it was Pecco [Bagnaia] or Jack [Miller], but it was him. “I tried [to get through] and I had to go forward because I was feeling better at that point.” “It was a pity that we missed the podium today because I was competitive and super fast. “Overall I’m quite happy about the weekend and in all the free practices we were in the top four. “In the race I was super consistent and could recover this gap of 1.7s that I lost in the shortcut [ran wide at the chicane]. For sure, we missed the podium and I ed but anyway, we are fast and competitive for the next races.”Failed overtake on Miller ‘wasn’t risky’ – Martin Clearly quicker than Miller during the final few laps, Martin lined up a move at turn one at the beginning of the final lap.But as he tipped into the right-hand corner, the Spaniard lost the front-end of his GP22 machine and with it any hopes of claiming his third MotoGP podium of the season. Despite being on the limit with both pace and tyres, Martin didn’t feel as though the move was particularly risky.The Pramac rider added: “It was the only point that I could overtake because I was better than him [turn one]. It wasn’t so risky but we are all on the limit and on the last lap the tyres are also a bit on the limit. I had to try otherwise I wouldn’t sleep tonight.”
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