Pramac Racing boss Francesco Guidotti celebrated Jorge Martin after the rookie scored a sensational first victory for the private team after almost 20 years and numerous near accidents.
The Italian team is an integral part of the MotoGP paddock and made its debut in 2002 at the beginning of the four-stroke era (under the D’Antin banner).
It served loyally as the Ducati satellite team for the next 19 years, but while the factory team has racked up numerous victories at the highest level, Pramac never achieved that feat and instead achieved 24 seconds and thirds. This is in contrast to other satellite teams – like LCR Honda, Petronas SRT Yamaha, and now Tech 3 KTM – doing this.
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Appropriately enough, the Styrian MotoGP in 2020 was the scene of another big “duck break” after Miguel Oliveira clinched victory for Tech 3 Racing to end his 21-year wait for glory.
Ironically, Tech 3’s win at the time was arguably at the expense of Pramacs after Jack Miller got in the way on his first win with Pol Espargaro, allowing Oliveira to pull her on the line.
On that occasion, however, it was a different story as Martin won the race from pole position, his second of the year. The young Spaniard lost the lead early in the race, but after taking the lead again on lap three, he withstood intense pressure from Joan Mir to eventually score a comfortable winner.
The performance is all the more impressive when you consider that Martin is actually only contesting his sixth MotoGP race, having missed four events due to an injury in Portimao.
This was also achieved by team mate Johann Zarco, who is in second place in the overall standings and has a reputation for the title, but has not yet had to win a race for the team.
“This is Pramac’s first victory in MotoGP and it is incredible to have won it with a rookie,” beamed Guidotti in quotes to GPOne. “We were looking for this win instead of waiting for it, with Danilo Petrucci since 2015, last year here with Jack and in Valencia. It’s incredible to do it with a rookie when you think he’s in his fifth and half races. “
Guidotti praises Martin for getting himself up to speed quickly in MotoGP and points out that he is an example of a new generation approach to MotoGP racing that he believes will raise the standard in the series will.
“[Jorge] is a new generation of drivers with great learning and high speed. Ducati has a lot of systems, different mappings and other functions and Jorge immediately started using them, made small mistakes, then his comments are very reliable.
“If this is the new generation, the current limit values will drop sharply. What will you be able to do with more experience? “