Jorge Martin points out key contenders at Misano despite last year’s dominance

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin says his dominance of the 2023 Misano round “doesn’t matter now” ahead of this year’s San Marino Grand Prix.

Martin won both the sprint and the grand prix at Misano last season in dominant fashion for Ducati to really kickstart his championship challenge.

Having taken a 23-point lead over Francesco Bagnaia in the standings last weekend in Aragon, his Misano results from 2023 makes him a favourite for victory in the 2024 San Marino GP.

But Martin believes his form at Misano from a year ago means nothing in the context of the current title battle.

“For sure it’s nice to be here in Misano after last season’s result,” he said on Thursday at the Italian venue.

“But what I did last season doesn’t matter now.

“Now the important thing is to keep improving, keep learning now the level has raised a lot in the last races.

“I feel I’m progressing and I’m getting better and better, but so have the others.

“So, it’s quite difficult. I feel also here in Italy for Pecco and Enea it will be a super good weekend, they train a lot here so it will be a good track for them.

“Also for us, but dominating will be difficult. We will try to repeat what I did last season, it will be super, super hard but I will give my best.”

Martin did also stress that a key part of his dominant Misano weekend last year was the fact that chief title rivals Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi were injured.

Bastianini not ruling out 2024 title scrap

Enea Bastianini has finished on the podium at every Misano race he has taken part in since stepping up to MotoGP.

Despite missing last year’s San Marino GP through injury, the works team Ducati rider is expected to be a factor in the victory battle.

After a difficult Aragon weekend, Bastianini is now 71 points behind Martin in the championship, but believes with more consistency he is still a combatant in the title fight.

“I think Pecco and also Jorge, during all the season from the start, have always been consistent,” he said.

“Sometimes I do a great result, but sometimes no.

“It depends for the rest of the championship if I can do more consistency.

“But we have to close a big gap because now we have 71 points [deficit], but never say never. We have to do many races, so let’s see.”