The Spanish MotoGP rider Jorge Martín (Ducati) was proclaimed world champion of the premier class this Sunday for the first time in his career, after improving the version he showed last year, based on consistency, regularity, mettle and determination, ingredients to be the most tenacious and barely make mistakes, despite only adding three wins to the eleven of his greatest rival, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
The 26-year-old from San Sebastián de los Reyes fulfilled his childhood dream and touched glory in MotoGP, winning a title, by ten points over ‘Pecco’, who resisted him – he had been champion in 2018 in Moto3 – – and who seemed to move away even more after the shock of losing him last year after petting him for weeks. But the Jorge Martín of 2023 bears little resemblance to the one of this year.
The Spaniard has maintained, or even increased, his ambition and his hunger. But he has changed his way of approaching objectives, leaving aside his more explosive and rebellious version a little, to find his colder and more rational self, which has allowed him not to make mistakes that were decisive in the past and that They distanced themselves from their great desire.
‘Martinator’ has not been the fastest on Sundays – he added three victories this year in ‘long’ races (Portugal, France and Indonesia) – but he has been the most consistent. The Madrid native only missed the podium on four occasions on Sundays in the 20 World Cup events, and also made the difference on Saturdays in the ‘sprint’, in a format that he has outstandingly demonstrated that he handles perfectly.
The Spaniard managed to win the ‘short’ races on seven Saturdays, the same as ‘Pecco’, but his consistency made the difference: he was only off the podium on four occasions, therefore getting on the podium 16 times.
And that consistency translated into points and a cushion that his head and rationality allowed him to withstand a Bagnaia who only made 10 podiums in the ‘sprint’ but who, however, won 11 races on Sundays, the season that he has done the most. , even more than in the previous two in which he was champion.
In the case of Martín, 2024 has been his most regular season, in which he has fixed the obstacles that prevented him from winning in 2023. And ‘Martinator’ began to win the title in November of last year, when he could not work the miracle against a Bagnaia who won his second consecutive World Cup in Valencia. Last year, more than half (11) of the Grand Prix failed to get on the podium, so this season consistency has been the big change.
The man from Madrid has always been adapting to the premier category, which welcomed him in 2021 with a strong fall in Portugal that caused seven broken bones and several operations to finish building his nickname ‘Martinator’ – due to the countless number of plates, irons and metals in your body–. That episode changed Martín, who also this year has experienced key moments that have brought him closer to the title.
And the main one was his fall at Sachsenring, in Germany. In the ninth round of the calendar, the Madrid native crashed with two laps remaining in Sunday’s race. He was the sole leader and had everything to continue increasing his lead at the top. His ‘zero’ made him lose the lead, but it was a turning point. “It’s frustrating, it has hurt me more than ever, it has been and will be an important day in my career, it will mark a before and after,” the Madrid driver acknowledged then.
The mental strength of the new champion is the key that explains the incontestable success of Jorge Martín, who also had to overcome Ducati’s decision not to trust him for the official project in 2025. The Madrid native takes the ‘1’ to Aprilia next year, for the first time in a factory team in MotoGP. Consistency has made the difference in the best season of a ‘Martinator’ who returns Spanish motorcycling to the throne four years later.