Jorge Martin believes he could have fought Francesco Bagnaia harder in the MotoGP Malay♍sian Grand Prix but “there was no sense” to take🎀 that risk.

The Pramac rider had his first opportunity to win the 2024 championship on Sunday at Sepang if he outscored Bagnaia by♔ nineꦿ points.

Bagnaia ultimatꦑely won the grand prix after a thrilling early battle with Martin, who had 🌳to settle for a distant second.

Martin still leads the championship comfortably, with a 24-point gap meaning he needs to outscore Bagnaia by just two points in the sprint race at t⛦he final round to be crowned champion.

After being held at bay by Bagnaia in their early tussle, Martin൲ planned to sit behind his Ducati rival for an attack later on - but found “everything started to work quite bad” o꧟n his bike while in dirty air.

“From my side maybe I had to be a bit more calm, but I felt I was able to fight with him,” Mar🐷tin said.

“So, I tried it, but at some point I thought ‘Ok, itꦬ’s too much risk, so wait behind’.

“But the problem is, that as soon as I went behind him everything sᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚtarted toꦜ work quite bad.

“I also had Marc [Marquez] quite close, so I had to push. For sure, when Marc crashed it was a big relief for me because I had some space to Enea [Ba♎stianini] and then I was trying to continue with focus, withᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ a really good pace.

“And at some point 𒆙I tried to recover to Pecco, but then I made a mistake at corner nine and I said ‘Ok, Jorge, that’s enough’.

“Was really physical also, I started to have some moments in the last three laps. So I just 🐲tried 🌳to make it till the end. Nice, important points for the championship.”

Martin added: “Everything was on his side to win today. He had to risk.😼 I could ha🍸ve battled a little bit more, but there was no sense.

“I mean, I think I could get that first position but it was too 🍎much of a risk. I think that’s important, because in terms of riding style I think we were so, so clos💎e.

“I think there was no different at all. I think it wa💃s more on the mental side, and I think he had everything today to win.”

Martin put a bit of pressurꦆe on Bagnaia in the closing stages, as he reduced the lead from two seconds to 1.5s wiꦏth four laps to go before making a mistake at Turn 9 on lap 16.

But before that point, Martin accepts that it was likely “almost impossible” he’d win as track position is too importa🙈nt in modern MotoGP now.

“Nowadays in Mo🤡toGP, if you are not on the lead on the first 10 laps - s🍸o the first half of the race - it is almost impossible to win it,” he said.

“But I never gave up, I always tried to tﷺheꦛ end. And it was similar to Japan. I was closing the gap.

“I closed maybe four tenths in one lap, I said ‘Ok, you ca𝔉n do it, at least put some pressure on him’. But I had this m꧋oment in corner nine and at this point I just tried to make it to the end.”