Метка: Barcelona GP

Martin ‘feared’ he would never win a MotoGP title as he opens up on mental health

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Pramac rider Jorge Martin has revealed he ‘feared’ he would never be able to win a championship in MotoGP at the start of the year as he struggled with his mental health.

The Spaniard said he became scared of losing while heading into his fourth season in the premier class, despite having accepted his championship defeat to factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia in 2023.

But working with his psychologist Xero Gasol helped him overcome his problems and improve on-track performances, which ultimately played an important role in Martin beating Bagnaia to the title in last weekend’s Barcelona finale.

With three grand prix wins, seven sprint successes and 16 podiums in 20 Sunday races, he became the first rider in the MotoGP era to win a title with a satellite team, finishing 10 points clear of the two-time champion.

But while Martin ended the campaign by adding his name to the ‘tower of champions’, things were much tougher for him at the start of the year, as he explained: “I was struggling with my mental health.

“Last season was great, even after being second, I was quite happy. But in general I started to have a lot of fears, I was really scared, like I will never be champion in MotoGP. 

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“So thanks to my coach I improved a lot. I was more focussed on the hope of winning than on the fear of losing. 

“If I lose, ‘okay, I’m not dying. This is life, it’s not ending here’. But I was without hope for winning — not only for me, but for my team, for my family, all the closest [members].”

Martin made several ill-timed errors during his first title assault in 2023, with his crash while leading the Indonesian Grand Prix often being cited as the moment where he lost the championship to Bagnaia.

He also gave away likely victories in Jerez and the Sachsenring in the first part of this year, but came back much stronger after the summer break, even as Bagnaia continued to drop the ball at important stages of the campaign.

Martin says a change in his approach made him much stronger in 2024, as he was living in the present and no longer dwelling on past mistakes.

“The important thing this year was to learn from the past and not repeat the same mistakes,” he said.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“It’s like life, you can make mistakes, it’s completely normal, we are human and we make mistakes. 

“The important thing is to take the positives from the mistakes and say okay, ‘I will learn from this and won’t repeat it’. 

“For me the key is living in the present. We never know about the future, the future — who knows [what it holds]? So live in the present, improve from the past and just do your 100%, that’s it.”

Photos from Barcelona test

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The mental metamorphosis that helped Martin secure his first MotoGP title

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


As Jorge Martin stood in parc ferme at the Barcelona circuit wearing the Terminator overalls that commemorated his first MotoGP championship title, a figure watched him from afar, diluted in the people who crowded the pitlane, standing next to Jorge Lorenzo.

Xero Gasol is a psychologist who is used to working with sportsmen and women, especially in football, and whose contribution has been crucial to understanding the transformation Martin has undergone over the last year. He is passionate about hockey, to the extent that he has coached the Atletic Terrassa club in Spain.

Precisely this disconnection with MotoGP was one of the aspects that led Martin to work with someone who until last May, when he visited the Barcelona paddock for the first time during the Catalunya Grand Prix, had never been to a race.

Gasol has been one of Martin’s most solid supporters throughout a season in which the Pramac rider has given a slightly different version of himself than usual. He has been more serene, both on and off the bike, a circumstance that allows us to understand the consistency reflected in his numbers: 16 podiums out of a possible 20, with three wins on Sunday, and seven in the sprints. A tremendous dynamic that has taken him to 508 points, the highest score in the history of the competition. An accumulated total even more powerful than Pecco Bagnaia’s 11 victories.

«This year I have worked a lot with my psychologist, Xero, who has helped me to lose the fear of not winning, to race without fear of losing and to do it for the joy of winning,» Martin acknowledged on Sunday, after bathing in champagne.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Dorna

«This year, Jorge’s change has been continuous. In this environment, when you need help, you ask for it,» added Angel Martin, father of the newly crowned champion – the fifth Spaniard after Alex Criville, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir. «Jorge has earned the title. He has achieved what he didn’t achieve last year: consistency,» added Pedro Acosta, another of Martin’s regular friends, given that he shares the same agent with him.

It was Albert Valera who put Martin in contact with Gasol, who prefers to remain in the background, and that the spotlight is focused on the rider. Valera, who is also Aleix Espargaro’s agent, suggested that the two meet at a meal to see how much they were on the same wavelength. From that moment on, communication between Martin and Gasol has been constant, face-to-face via video conferences and, above all, via WhatsApp.

The attention is immediate, especially in the most difficult moments, as for example in Sachsenring, where the then-contender crashed when he was leading the race. His first impulse, as soon as he returned to the pitbox and got into his team’s truck, was to call Gasol and tell him what had happened.

«Jorge’s change has been huge this year. Before he only had to look to tomorrow, with little or no focus on the present. Now he enjoys the here and now, and is aware of how privileged he is to be in the position he is in,» one of Martin’s closest friends told Motorsport.com,

«He had a very bad time, because he put a lot of pressure on himself and didn’t enjoy the ride at all. This time he did,» added this authoritative voice, who also prefers to remain anonymous so as not to take the limelight away from someone who deserves it all.

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I will learn to finish fifth instead of crashing after MotoGP title defeat

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Francesco Bagnaia says he will learn that it’s better to accept defeat than go over the limit and crash, as he seeks to retake the MotoGP title in 2025.

Despite winning 11 of the 20 grands prix this year, plus seven additional victories in sprints, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia lost out on this year’s championship to the more consistent Jorge Martin from the satellite Pramac team.

The Italian’s campaign was marred with misfortune and unforced errors, with a number of crashes from leading positions — including in the penultimate sprint race at Sepang — leaving him chasing Martin in the points table for the majority of the year.

Bagnaia took victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix earlier this month and followed that up with a double triumph in Barcelona, but it wasn’t enough to usurp the points advantage Martin had built with fewer first-place finishes.

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Following the final race, the two-time champion has revealed that he has identified a lot of areas where he must improve during the winter break in order to come back stronger next year. 

This includes giving up positions when he is not the fastest rider on a given day, instead of fighting too hard for the win and crashing out.

“We can be very satisfied and very happy [with 2024], but for next year we have to improve in some areas,” he said.

“I have to understand better maybe some situations because I’ve been taken out three times by other riders, I had an issue with the bike, then I crashed four times for very small things. So I have to improve and I will try to do it for next year.

“I’m a rider that never gives up, [but] sometimes it’s better to think more and maybe finish in fifth or fourth than crash and this is something that I will learn.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

He added: “I just tried to do the maximum in all the three races and it wasn’t enough because Jorge this season learned that sometimes it is better to be passed and finish second than winning. 

“He did a fantastic job, he deserves the title.”

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Bagnaia suffered an early blow to his championship hopes when he ended up on the ground after a collision with Gresini’s Marc Marquez in the Portugal Grand Prix.

Another DNF followed in Jerez when he was sandwiched by KTM’s Brad Binder and VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi, and he was also taken out of the Emilia Romagna GP by the other Gresini bike of Alex Marquez.

While it was hard to apportion blame on Bagnaia in any of the incidents, he said he could still change his approach while fighting with other riders on track not to give away important points in the championship.

“The first thing I will have to learn is to understand the situations better,” he said. “It’s true that three out of these eight zeroes come from strange situations, the one in Portimao with Marc, the one with Jerez with Brad and the one with Alex Marquez in Aragon. 

“In all three, it’s true that I’ve been taken out by other riders, but all three were situations that maybe I could avoid. 

“The one with Marc – he was faster, so maybe wait and don’t cross the line. I’m saying that now but when I’m racing I just want to arrive more in front than I can, but maybe from next year I will improve [on] that. 

“The one with Alex Marquez I was clearly faster by four tenths, and I didn’t wait because he was wide so I said, ‘okay, it’s my moment’ — and then he touched me and made me crash. 

“The one with Brad was the same. I think I have to learn from my mistakes.”

Photos from Barcelona GP Race



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MotoGP opens ticket sales for Barcelona GP with proceeds to go to Valencia

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


A limited number of tickets for MotoGP’s new season finale in Barcelona are on sale, with all proceeds set to be donated to the victims of the devastating floods in Valencia.

Ticket prices for what is officially being branded as the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona start at 55.30 euros and go as high as 108.50 euros for the ‘Excellence’ grandstands, according to a statement released by Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

«The event, whose profits will go to those affected by DANA, presents a great diversity of tickets with attractive prices to promote solidarity,» it said.

«The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has already put tickets on sale for the Gran Premio Solidario Motul de Barcelona, ​​which will take place from 15 to 17 November at the Catalan facilities. Tickets can be purchased on the Circuit’s official website and are at very attractive prices to encourage solidarity and donations.”

Barcelona has not officially revealed the number of tickets that have been put on sale. For logistical reasons, with the confirmation of the event arriving just over a week before the start of track action, it’s not possible to make seats available for the same number of spectators as during the Catalan Grand Prix or Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix at the same circuit. Those events are usually able to pull in more than 130,000 fans on Sunday.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Accessing the website of the Barcelona circuit, it can be seen that a total of 18,992 tickets are on sale in nine different locations. If the entire lot is sold out, it will bring in revenue of around 1.5 million euro.

Tickets are available for a variety of grandstands as well as the general admission zones known as ‘pelouse’.

The season finale was due to be held at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, as has been a tradition for many years. But the devastation caused by heavy flooding in Valencia forced the authorities to cancel the event just over two weeks ahead of its scheduled date.

After evaluating all possible scenarios, MotoGP’s promoter Dorna concluded that the best option was to race in Barcelona. The decision was taken together with Valencian and Catalan authorities.

The Barcelona GP will decide the 2024 MotoGP champion, with Jorge Martin currently leading the standings by 24 points over Francesco Bagnaia heading into the finale. A total of 37 points will be on offer across the sprint and the main race.

Tickets for the Valencia race will not be valid in Barcelona. Ticket holders for Valencia have the option of request a fund from the circuit from 11 November or transfer the ticket to 2025.

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