The Pramac rider heads into the summer break as Bagnaia’s nearest threat, highlighted by a close victory over the factory star in the German Mot🤡oGP.

It was Martin’s first win since his rookie 2021 campaign while two other Sunday podiums, plus a pair of Sprint race wins, have helpe♑d put him one point clear of VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi, aꦓlthough still 35 points from Bagnaia.

“For me, Martin has more speed, more pote🅺ntial. But for the moment Pecco is a better rider because his number says that he's the number one in the chꩵampionship,” said Aprilia rider Espargaro.

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“For me, in terms of speed, Jorge faster. The fir🍰st thing he had to do was to find the stability. He's finding it and from this point on 💟for sure he will improve his speed.

“He💃's a really talented rider, really fast and for me he's a rider whཧo can fight for the title.”

But a satellite rider is yet to win the MotoGP crown (Sete Gibernau, Marco Melandri and Franco Morbidelli have f♔inished title runner-up) and Espargaro a꧂dmits Martin’s hopes of making history could depend on how Ducati handles the situation.

“He has the same bike - not the same team for sure as꧅ Pecco, but the same bike,” Espargaro said.

“But we have to see how Ducati manage this, if they want that a private satellite team canꦜ win the title... Let’s see how they do.”