The "pit bull" MotoGP rookie already drawing legendary comparisons

Fast Spaniards are about as rare as rainy days in Scotland. Some have complained about this, drawing ill-brained conspiracies regarding the volume of Spanish riders in a world championship operated out of Barcelona.

But the simple fact is, Spain just does it better in terms of rearing young riders and in terms of having a strong motorcycle racing culture. For the past nine years, it’s the only country to have produced MotoGP world champions in Jorge Lorenzo (2012 and 2015), Marc Marquez (2013-2014, 2016-2019) and Joan Mir (2020).

The latest Spanish star shone brightly last weekend in the Doha Grand Prix. Jorge Martin stunned the paddock with his pole lap on Saturday, and proved even more impressive in the race by leading the first 17 laps before finishing third.

And he did all of this on a Pramac Ducati he’s only had 12 days on in 2021 over the past month, courtesy of COVID-19 forcing the pre-season to be thoroughly shortened. By comparison, last year’s rookies Alex Marquez and Brad Binder had four days of testing across Valencia and Jerez in November of 2019, six days at Sepang, three days in Qatar and two days at Jerez before the 2020 season kicked off.

Martin’s two-year contract with Ducati was first revealed by Autosport early in 2020 and a step to MotoGP for the 23-year-old had most of the paddock salivating.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Dominant in the 2014 Red Bull Rookies Cup, Martin’s first two seasons in Moto3 weren’t ideal. He was saddled with the underpowered Mahindra at the Aspar squad, managing a podium in 2016 at the wet Czech GP. But it was the late Fausto Gresini’s belief in Martin’s talent and faith he could be a world champion that allowed Martin to flourish.

He switched to Gresini’s squad on a Honda and showed his speed immediately, claiming pole for the opening round in Qatar before finishing third in the race. Though he would have to wait until the finale in Valencia to score his maiden win, Martin qualified on pole eight more times – regularly doing so on harder compounds to that of his rivals, often doing those lap times without the aid of a slipstream.

"He is very strong and is like a kind of pit bull, very strong and also very aggressive. On braking he reminds me a lot of Stoner, also because of his aggressiveness and because he brakes very late and leaves the brakes very decisively" Jorge Lorenzo

He was able to marry his qualifying speed to his race pace in 2018, qualifying on pole 11 times and winning seven races to wrap up the Moto3 crown before stepping up to Moto2 in 2019 with KTM. Taking some time to adapt to the difficult KTM chassis, Martin scored two podiums in the latter stages. As it would turn out, this would be enough to secure him his Ducati MotoGP future.

A Moto2 title charge in 2020 looked likely after scoring his maiden win in the Austrian GP. But a two-race layoff after he became the first rider in the MotoGP paddock to contract COVID-19 curtailed his championship aspirations.

Martin is one of a bumper crop of rookies Ducati has signed for 2021, alongside reigning Moto2 world champion Enea Bastianini and 2020 runner-up Luca Marini – both at Avintia on GP19s, while Martin has fully works-supported GP21s at Pramac, offering a clue as to how highly rated Martin is by the Italian manufacturer.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing leads

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Martin’s performance across the Doha GP weekend courted praise from MotoGP legends, one of them being Jorge Lorenzo, who tweeted after qualifying “a star is born” in reaction to Martin’s pole. A day later, Lorenzo noticed himself in elements of Martin’s riding during the Doha race, while drawing comparisons between the young Spaniard and double world champion Casey Stoner – two legends Martin matched in scoring a pole in his maiden season, along with Marc Marquez.

“He is very strong and is like a kind of pit bull, very strong and also very aggressive,” Lorenzo said of Martin in his new YouTube series '99 Seconds'. “On braking he reminds me a lot of Stoner, also because of his aggressiveness and because he brakes very late and leaves the brakes very decisively like Casey did.

“And I also think he looks a bit like me in the [body] position in the middle of the corner. He hangs off a lot, practically touching [the ground] with the elbow and even with the shoulder in some corners. And then he also has a lot of corner speed. He has been able to do a lot of cornering speed with the Ducati compared to a [Johann] Zarco that is very direct in braking and does not prepare very well for cornering, or a [Jack] Miller.”

Martin offered a preview of his Doha potential in the Qatar GP the week before, shooting from 14th to fourth at the first corner. Wilfully admitting that “wasn’t my place”, he didn’t offer huge resistance as faster riders came through, while not having much time to prepare himself physically for MotoGP meant he would fade to 15th by the chequered flag. Despite this, he took with him some valuable lessons to the next weekend.

In terms of pure performance, his advancement from week to week was stark. His pole lap for the Doha GP was over seven tenths quicker than his qualifying lap from the Qatar round, while his fastest lap in the second race was three tenths quicker than it was the week before – and that was while absorbing the pressure of leading what became MotoGP’s closest ever top 15.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

So why is this guy so quick already? Pramac boss Francesco Guidotti offered Autosport this explanation.

“He’s really impressed us. There’s no big explanation. We’ve known him a few weeks and what he’s doing is impressive,” Guidotti said. “His attitude helps him a lot to ride and maybe his riding style. This circuit is matched with our bike, so maybe this result is also for this reason. But mainly his attitude, his talent.

“Since we met the very first time, there was already [a feeling] like we knew each other since forever. Both of us had this feeling, so everything is pretty natural and everything is much easier because when the first feeling is good, then everything is much easier. He’s a very clever guy, very friendly guy, he likes to stay and to spend time in the garage even if there’s no need for technical [reasons].”

"We have to keep the feet on the ground. We can’t forget that we had five days test here, we did already one race and he did the pole at the second race in the same circuit and the same circuit where we had the winter test" Francesco Guidotti

Martin’s attitude was very telling following his pole. During the parc ferme interviews while the adrenaline of his first pole was still coursing through his veins, Martin’s feet were firmly planted on the ground, noting Sunday was “not my day to win” and later saying he had to “be a rookie” in order to further his MotoGP education. A cynic might see this as shying away from a fight he’s capable of winning, but if you go back and listen to how the likes of Marc Marquez spoke after his early successes in the premier class in 2013 there are definite similarities.

Ultimately, the measure of greatness is how much you are willing to remain humble and willing to better yourself, regardless of how good you believe you already are.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing Johann Zarco, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Had Fabio Quartararo struggled a bit more to cut his way through the pack from ninth on his Yamaha, perhaps last Sunday’s Doha GP could have gone very differently for Martin. While team-mate Zarco did eventually pass him, it wasn’t without having to go up against a resilient defence – and it would have proved even more formidable had there not been a blue M1 streaking further away in the distance in the closing laps.

PLUS: Has Yamaha banished its demons with its 2021 MotoGP bike?

There’s no doubting Ducati has got a gem on its hands, though Guidotti urged caution amid the legendary comparisons his rider was being showered with in Doha.

“We have to keep the feet on the ground,” he told Autosport. “What you mention is legends and Jorge showed us a lot. But we can’t forget that we had five days test here, we did already one race and he did the pole at the second race in the same circuit and the same circuit where we had the winter test. So, circumstances are slightly different.”

Nevertheless, if Martin is this good already in his MotoGP career, then what he will be capable of as his knowledge of and confidence in his Ducati grows should have the rest of the field worried…

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images