The Spaniard put in a good performance at the Macau Grand Prix, where he finished in fifth position, including overtaking on the tricky Guia track.
Martí officially concludes his second season in Formula 3, with the desire to continue growing and learning from this sport.
"The final result was better than I thought it would be, because the beginning of the weekend was not very positive. We struggled a lot on the first day. I hadn't been in the car for two months and the truth is that it was difficult".
Pepe Marti made his debut at the Macau Grand Prix with two excellent comebacks in his first appearance in Red Bull gear. The Spanish driver finished fifth in the final race, in a weekend in which he went from strength to strength.
"The final result was better than I thought it would be, because the start of the weekend was not very positive. We struggled a lot on the first day. It had been two months since I had been in the car and it was really hard for me.
It had been two months since I had been in the car and the truth is that it was difficult. You could tell that the others already had the feeling after the post-season tests and so on, and it took me a day or a few laps to get into the rhythm".
The mythical race at the Guia circuit, with two qualifying sessions, a race that decides the final grid for Sunday's final assault on the Grand Prix. The Campos Racing driver finished 11th in qualifying, as he was unable to improve in the final moments of the session, which had to be suspended before the end due to numerous accidents on track.
"The fact that we were last in the pit lane didn't help us, because at every red flag we were half a lap or a lap down on those closest to us. The drivers who had that advantage, it was noticeable, they were in front. Overall, I'm happy, because in the end we found our rhythm throughout the weekend", commented Martí.
The Spanish driver was forced to make a comeback in the qualification race to get a good starting position for the final race. He achieved his goal and after a brave fight with several of his rivals, he finally took eighth place.
In Sunday's final race he again started with conviction, and made good overtaking moves to take fifth at the start. Once again, the session had to be stopped with a red flag, due to the accident of another driver. In the incident, Martí's car was one of those that was damaged, although according to the rules in situations like this, it could be repaired correctly when the race was stopped. When the race restarted, Pepe was still in fifth place, but could not make up any more positions because a new incident on the track led to the intervention of the safety car, which neutralised the race until the time of the finish.
"Thursday and Friday were quite normal and on Saturday we managed to make a step forward. We finished in eighth position, managing every situation well, avoiding any problems and not getting into trouble to avoid accidents. On Sunday, after a good start, I had a bit of bad luck but I managed to handle it well in the first braking to get into fifth position. It was a race of keeping the pace and a cool head. I had few opportunities to overtake. One that I had after the red flag, I took a gamble but it didn't work out the way we wanted it to. In the end, fifth position, happy after how it all started but at the same time it doesn't taste like much, seeing where we were at the end. It's time to keep working and learning from everything", he explained.
Thus, Pepe officially ends his second season in Formula 3, with a proliferation of comebacks, victories and podiums, looking forward to the next challenge.