Moto3: Rested Martin ready to resume in enemy territory

Jorge Martin’s ride through the pain barrier in a superhuman performance in Austria left him only 12 points behind winner Marco Bezzecchi, but despite the extra time to recover for Silverstone, it was nevertheless going to be a challenge. With tools downed after the conditions proved impossible to race in, however, everyone is left pressing reset for the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini – and Martin has a little more time to recover before there are points in play.

He’d taken pole at Silverstone in another impressive display too, but now it’s home turf for Bezzecchi and key rival Enea Bastianini. Bezzecchi wants win number three of the season and Bastianini took his maiden win at the venue so knows he has some serious pace there – with some serious glory up for grabs if they can get the job done at the Adriatic venue. In contrast though, that also means that a victory for Martin would likely taste even sweeter…

Then there’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, another home hero who’ll be hunting for glory and shouldn’t be underestimated, and Aron Canet – another in enemy territory looking for that to give him an extra push of motivation. They both lost out big in the points race in Austria too, and need to fight back as the rounds remaining tick down.

Away from the squabble at the very top though, there are many more names who could get in that battle and one team who will be pushing particularly hard are SIC58 Squadra Corse. For the team, run by the late Marco Simoncelli’s father Paolo, it’s the most important weekend of the season – raced as it is around the track named in honour of the late Italian, at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.