“Until the checkered flag, nothing is certain”

The MotoGP World Championship will be decided this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya, where the Barcelona Solidarity Grand Prix takes placewhich replaces that of Valencia, canceled by the Dana which devastated the Levant region. The Spanish participate in this last and extraordinary event of the year Jorge Martin leading the championship with 24 points ahead of second place, Pecco Bagnaiadouble world champion and defending champion.

The roles have been changed compared to last year, when these same two drivers arrived at the last race in Valencia with the Italian first and the Pramac driver second, separated by 21 points.

On this occasion, Martín won the sprint on Saturday, with a conservative Pecco finishing fifth, which narrowed the championship to 14 points. Martín had to add 15 more than his rival, due to the difference in victories, but a victory for the Spaniard and a sixth place for the Italian would have changed everything. This did not happen, Martín crashed with Marc Marquez ending the race for both on the fifth lap, with Bagnaia taking a peaceful victory and the title by 39 points.

The newspapers arrive this year completely modified. Now it's Martin who leads and, in fact, “simply” by winning the Sprint on Saturday, which he has done seven times this year and 16 times since the short race was introduced on Saturday last year, he would already be champion without having to go to Sunday. With two sixth places (4+10 points), the Spaniard would win his first MotoGP crown and his second, having won the Moto3 title in 2018.

“The Championship of Mistakes”

For any normal person, doing the numbers, Martín's title seems certain, however, in a last grand prix, with two races at stake and with the freezing weather conditions that we will experience this weekend in Montmeló, it is necessary have a margin of safety.

Jorge Lorenzo He is a five-time world champion, including three in MotoGP, the last also achieved during the final race, in 2015, where he finished second, 7 points behind. Valentino Rossi and managed to overturn the rankings by winning the title.

But The Mallorcan also has a season finale in his career, that of 2013, in which he arrived at the last event 13 points behind leader Marc Márquez, having beaten him by 30 points in just two races.. However, and despite winning the last three events of the season, this time he was unable to reverse the situation by four points, which separated him from the Catalan in the final ranking of that year.

An expert who knows what is at stake for Martín and Bagnaia this weekend, Lorenzo assures that he would be “happy” with the Spaniard's title, but warns him of the difficulty of closing the championship.

“Martín has more possibilities, but Until the checkered flag, nothing is certain. But I would have to make a very big mistake not to win,” explains Lorenzo in the Corriere dello Sport. “I think Jorge has grown mentallyafter all, he worked with a sports psychologist to calm his momentum.”

Jorge Lorenzo knows what it means to win the title in the last race, he did it at Valencia 2015 by beating Valentino Rossi

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Lorenzo believes that the two contenders have failed too much this season.

“Martín made mistakes, just like Bagnaia: It's been the championship of mistakesbut they were both very fast,” he said.

“If Martín won, it would make me happy, because he is a good, explosive rider who deserves at least one MotoGP title.”

For the Mallorcan, the equality between the two contenders for the title is very great, but he believes that this year the Madrid player had a little more, especially on Saturday.

“Bagnaia and Jorge They are on the same level in terms of speed and competitivenessbut Martín showed something more in terms of explosiveness and outputs,” he affirms.

“Let's say that Jorge is more gasoline, while Pecco is more dieseland in sprints, that makes the difference,” explains #99.

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