Big winner last Sunday in Indonesia, Jorge Martín was much less happy today, when concluding the first tests of the Japanese GP. The championship leader may have spent the day at the top of the standings, second this morning and third this afternoon, but he deplores bad feelings which hampered him from start to finish.
“It was a strange day because of the weather. This morning it was difficult on slick tires with the raindrops. Then this afternoon it was a little more complicated than expected,” explains Martín to the official MotoGP website. “I started off pretty well but then I had problems with the bike, at all levels. I had a lot of trouble with the sensations at the front and the rear was also burning out a lot. I have to We’re working quite a bit, maybe not for tomorrow because it looks like it’s going to rain, but for Sunday we have to make good progress.”
Deploring the “strange sensations”, the Pramac driver fumbled with his settings, in vain. “We didn’t find what I was looking for. We were trying to be a little more competitive in braking, because that’s important here. I didn’t feel very good entering the corners and in the middle of the curve. I think So we’re going to go back to the standard settings, those that normally work, and try to work in another way.”
The essential is assured, since Martín will be in Q2 tomorrow, an important security to at least have the assurance of positioning himself on one of the first four lines while the rain is forecast in greater quantities than today . But the Spaniard, who won everything here last year, is already thinking about the races and the need for him to consolidate his leading position in the championship, which will require being more competitive to compete with Pecco Bagnaia who, at on the contrary, was in his best form today.
“Even if the pace wasn’t bad, I’m not very confident with the bike so I hope I can find an improvement. Certainly, I’m one of the fastest but I would clearly like to have better sensations”, he explains. “I block the front a lot and, when I enter the corners, I start to lose it a lot. It’s going to be very hard to do 24 laps like that. I think I have to improve my sensations a lot and everything will come much more easily.”
