BAGNAİA AND MARTİN HEMFİKİR: “WE DON’T HAVE TO BE ENEMIES OUTSIDE THE RUNWAY”

Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin think there is no reason for them to be off-track enemies while fighting for the 2024 MotoGP championship.
Bagnaia and Martin’s championship struggles will peak in the final in Barcelona next week.Their rivalry took place after Pramac driver Martin was not promoted to the Ducati team and were replaced by six-time champion Marc Marquez and Bagnaia.

Although the changes initiated by Ducati would have caused Martin to chart a new career path with Aprilia from 2025, he does not want to allow this decision to affect his relationship with Bagnaia.Both of them repeatedly emphasized their respect for each other as rivals.

“It’s easy to maintain good relations with Martin, because I’m not rude and aggressive on the track and off the track and doesn’t respect his opponents,” Bagnaia said.

“I have never been like this and will never be like this. If Jorge starts doing that, I’ll change, but he more or less agrees with me.”

“Of course, respect is the most important thing, and from my point of view, it will always be that way.”

“So I don’t understand why we should be enemies off the track, not talk to each other and be rude,” he said.

Both Martin and Bagnaia competed for Aspar Mahindra in Moto3 in 2015 and have been part of the paddra ever since. This helped their relationships to be firmly based.

Martin, “We’ve known each other since 2015. We were really close friends in the past.”

“We don’t have such a relationship anymore, but we are good to each other.”

“As he said, there is no point in being enemies. We can struggle on the track, enjoy it and then talk about it.”

“As he said, if this happens in the future, it will be perfect for me, and I hope it will always be like this,” he said.