India MotoGP runner-up Martin says dehydration almost cost him second

Extreme temperatures have been a factor throughout this weekend’s inaugural Indian GP, so much so that the distances for all races were shortened following a request from the riders.

Originally scheduled to run over 24 laps, Sunday’s grand prix at the Buddh International Circuit was reduced to 21 tours.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi dominated proceedings after taking the lead early on, beating Martin by over eight seconds.

Martin endured a manic race. Battling with factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia in the early stages, he was released into a comfortable second when the championship leader crashed out at Turn 5 on lap 14.

But a problem with his leather suit, in which it had unzipped partially, forced him to slow up at Turn 11 on lap 17 to rectify the situation.

Then a mistake at Turn 4 on the last lap allowed Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo to overtake him, with Martin retaliating brilliantly on the outside of the Frenchman into Turn 6 to reclaim second.

Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team, Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Martin was visibly spent as he made his way back to parc ferme and had to stop in his garage to be showered in cold water by his Pramac team.

When he finally made it to the winners’ enclosure, Martin had to be attended by MotoGP’s medical team.

“You have to trust me when I say I gave my 100%,” Martin said in a brief statement passed to the media by Pramac, after all of his media duties were cancelled on Sunday.

“I was dehydrated when there were eight laps to go, so it was really difficult to finish the race. Even though I was able to keep a good pace, in the last lap I did a big mistake because of the dehydration.

“So, I ran wide and Fabio overtook me. But I could overtake back and I’m very happy to take this second position.

“We recovered some points in the championship. I think we need to keep the same mentality as we did coming here, trying to win, trying to be fast in all the practices and this is the way to close that gap.”

Martin – who scored Pramac’s 50th podium - did not mention what happened with his race suit.

With Bagnaia crashing out, Martin now heads to next week’s Japanese GP just 13 points adrift of the factory Ducati rider.