Neil Hodgson urges Jorge Martin to improve his ‘missing piece’ amid Marco Bezzecchi title fight

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Neil Hodgson has pinpointed Jorge Martin’s ‘missing piece’ amid the Aprilia star’s prospective title fight with teammate Marco Bezzecchi, urging the Spaniard to improve on it to stand a chance in the championship battle.

With the Catalan Grand Prix weekend now well underway, Jorge Martin’s double victory at the last race weekend in Le Mans saw him clamber within just one point of Marco Bezzecchi’s championship-leading benchmark.

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However, with five rounds currently in the books, Bezzecchi looks to be the more consistent rider over a single lap. The Italian rider has out-qualified his Aprilia teammate in every round so far, with Martin’s victory at Le Mans coming from the third row of the grid.

As such, MotoGP pundit Neil Hodgson has urged the 2024 world champion to regain his former prowess in the single-lap shootout to ensure that he has every possible advantage heading into the latter stages of his title fight with Bezzecchi.

• READ MORE: MotoGP FP1 results as Alex Marquez sets the pace at Catalan Grand Prix and Jorge Martin crashes

Neil Hodgson urges Jorge Martin to improve his qualifying pace

During TNT Sports’ coverage of FP1 at the Catalan Grand Prix, Hodgson pointed to the Spaniard’s results in qualifying as a clear indication of what he must put right in the upcoming rounds of racing.

Martin has claimed a total of 20 pole positions since joining the premier class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing in 2021, but his last front-of-the-pack start came in 2024, at the Australian Grand Prix.

“I’ll tell you what, Martin, who has been the king all through his career at qualifying, it’s currently the missing piece he’s got from the jigsaw,” Hodgson began, before mentioning the Aprilia star’s Saturday morning results.

“I’m just double checking, it’s hard to believe he has not had a front row start. Martin has had a fifth, fifth, seventh, eighth.”

After his colleague, Sylvain Guintoli, highlighted how out of place he has been on the grid, Hodgson then added, “He was always the man, wasn’t he? I remember in Moto3, he got his first pole, and then from that moment on, he couldn’t stop.”

He’s not wrong. Martin scored pole in nearly a third of all Moto3 Grands Prix he contested, with his first coming at the 2017 Qatar Grand Prix, which paved the way for an astonishing five-in-a-row later on in the campaign.

• READ MORE: Max Biaggi saw how Jorge Martin was ‘truly superior’ to his MotoGP rivals in French Grand Prix win

Bezzecchi, on the other hand, has been much more impressive during qualifying this year. As Hodgson says, “If you look at Bezzecchi’s qualifying performances, well, out of five races, he’s had four front row starts.”

Of course, Martin’s injury-hit campaign last year meant he was unable to properly find the limit of his Aprilia prototype over a single season. His incredible instincts have aided his impressive race pace, but there is no doubt that Martin must improve his record in qualifying.