Jorge Martin revealed dehydration forced him into a mistake on the final lap of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix which almost cost him second place.
The Pramac Ducati rider was 1.5s ahead of Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo but ran wide at Turn 4.
Quartararo capitalised to snatch second place but Martin battled back and pulled off a daring overtake around the outside of the Frenchman into the esses.
Martin then defended the inside line at the final corner to clinch the runner-up spot behind dominant winner Marco Bezzecchi, earning 20 points to cut Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP championship advantage to 13 points after the Italian slid out of the race.
“I’m so, so happy about today’s race. You can trust me when I say I gave 150 percent,” said Martin, who was left exhausted by the contest.
“It was a really tough race. We decided to go with the medium rear and it wasn’t the best choice.
“I was trying to keep a good pace and even to follow Pecco was complicated and after the big effort I did, I was dehydrated.
“I tried to stay on my feet but it was impossible. Thanks to my team who helped me a lot to be able to go to the podium; to be on the podium was super-important for the team and for me,” he added.
“I’m happy, we recovered some points which is important, and hopefully we can recover well for Japan.”
Martin lost some time to Quartararo when he slowed to zip up his leathers to avoid a possible penalty, before pulling a gap again prior to his error on the last lap of the 21-lap race at the Buddh International Circuit.
“At the beginning, I knew that the medium [rear tyre] was the wrong choice, but I was calm. I was able to overtake Pecco and from that point I tried to pull away, but it was not possible,” Martin said.
“Then Pecco was pushing so hard and he crashed. As soon as he crashed, my leathers – I think I didn’t close them well – were getting open and they had to be closed. I lost a lot of energy and the last five or six laps were so tough for me.
“But I finished in second position and fighting with Fabio at the end was crazy, but I took these important points for the championship.”
Explaining the moment he ran off the track at Turn 4, Martin said he lost concentration because he was dehydrated.
“I was dehydrated and I think with eight [laps] to go was when I started to lose a bit of concentration. I braked and I was off [line]; I braked and I went off the track,” he said.
“I was [passed] by Fabio but I said ‘we need to take these points’ and at Corner 6 I went on the outside and tried my 100 percent. He saw that I wasn’t going to lose those points and taking 20 points was very important today.
“Everything is super-open and I want to be calm and also be trying to win in Japan.
“It’s a good track for us, last season I got an amazing result, so hopefully we can be in shape and recover well to battle for a victory.”
