Martin says Indonesia MotoGP crash “was coming sooner or later”

The Spaniard won the sprint on Saturday at the Mandalika track to take a seven-point lead in the championship after Francesco Bagnaia struggled to eighth.

Having taken the lead from sixth on the grid at Turn 1 of the grand prix, Martin looked set to dominate Sunday’s 27-lap contest when he crashed out at Turn 11 on lap 13 while three seconds clear of the pack.

Bagnaia came through to win the grand prix to retake the championship lead by 18 points.

This crash, which Martin explained was down to him running onto the dirty part of the track at Turn 10 seconds before, marked his first DNF since the Americas GP.

“Yeah, it was perfect,” Martin said of his race up to his crash. “I made a great start and then I was trying to make this gap a bit bigger.

“Then when I saw 2.8s, I was really surprised and I said ‘ok, it’s time to maybe keep calm’.

“I was a bit wide in corner 10 and it seemed like it was a bit dirty. So, when I went into corner 11 I lost the front doing the same as the lap before. But shit happens.”

He added: “I was feeling great, I was braking not so hard at that point trying to close the line.

“I had three seconds [advantage], I had already done the hard work. It was just making laps to finish.

“It is what it is. It’s not easy when you are front with those seconds to keep the concentration for sure.

“But I was running in a safe mode, let’s say. So, I’m happy my speed is there, and I’ve been fast in all the tracks.

“It’s been 14 races without a mistake. It’s just statistics. It was coming sooner or later and finally it was here. So, the races still remaining I feel confident to fight for victory.”

Martin was one of a handful of riders to use the soft front tyre in the grand prix but feels this did not contribute to his crash.

When asked if he’d choose the soft front again, he said: “Yeah, for sure.

“I was feeling super good. The thing was the dirt of corner 10 that made me crash.”

Additional reporting by Alberto Gomez