Martin thought provisional pole lap was untouchable, remains 'super confident'

Martin continued his 100% front row start success for 2022 after a sensational Q2 performance aboard a Ducati that looked less than stellar around the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit. 

The Pramac rider, who was second after the opening Q2 foray, managed to put his Desmosedici GP22 machine on provisional pole thanks to a first sub 1m 38s lap of the weekend. 

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And despite thinking pole was his after seeing his mighty lap time, Aleix Espargaro wasn’t to be denied as he claimed Aprilia’s first-ever MotoGP pole by nearly two tenths. 

Again, like Martin’s 100% front row success in qualifying this season, Ducati will have two bikes on the front row for the third consecutive occasion after Luca Marini claimed third. 

"For sure, when I saw 37.8s on the dashboard then I never expected anybody to improve on that," added Martin. "But finally, Aleix [Espargaro] did it. 

"Anyway, I'm super happy for him because I know how hard he works. Starting from pole position is always good. 

"For the race, I’m super confident. We have the set-up from the last few years and I feel really good. There is still some margin to improve during the warm-up, and with this long warm-up we can work like a practice. 

"And yeah, in the qualifying I made a really big step in front, because all the day I was struggling a bit to find the limit. But now I’m feeling great. It’s so far the best weekend of this season." 

To top off what’s thus far been best the weekend of the season according to Martin, will be the need to score points following two zeros that have left him 30 points behind Enea Bastianini.

But while getting his championship up-and-running will be key, doing it for 'my self-confidence' is the biggest thing, says Martin.

The former Moto3 world champion continued: "It’s important to finish for my self-confidence more than anything, and to be confident for the next races. 

"There are always some doubts when you don’t make points and you have crashes. But looking at it with perspective; in the first race I could do nothing (was taken out by Francesco Bagnaia) and the second one it was wet. So, I think we can finish and get a good result." 

While Martin is arguably turning himself into the best qualifier in MotoGP, Marini took a somewhat surprising front row for just the second time in his premier class career. 

The Italian rider’s effort was all the more impressive given the quick turnaround his Mooney VR46 team needed to make following freight delays. 

Like KTM and Gresini Ducati, Marini’s team had bikes arrive at midnight on Saturday morning, meaning two days’ worth of preparations had to be crammed into just eight hours, which is why his third place result was dedicated to the Valentino Rossi-owned outfit. 

Marini said: "My team did an amazing job. Thanks to them and to Ducati because they prepared two perfect bikes for me today. 

"It was so easy for them because they did the work in just eight hours which always takes two days, normally. It’s great to be here and they can sleep well tonight. This is nice. 

"About myself, I feel comfortable in the time attack situation, always during this season, but we had some issues at the start of the season. 

"Now I think we are going in a good direction and we are starting to fix a lot. The feeling from the start of today was really good, so I expected to be strong and fast, even if it’s the first time that we are here in MotoGP. 

"I think the warm-up will be important because I didn’t feel great with used tyres. We have to analyse the data and make changes."