Jorge Martín clocked the second-fastest time in the MotoGP Malaysian GP Practice, finishing just 0.050s behind Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati).
After Friday’s session, the Prima Pramac rider commented: ‘We were pushing. It was a good day, a normal day, always pushing and always both of us keeping the difference from the rest, so it’s impressive’.
Following a strong day on track, Martín feels confident and sees no need to adjust his approach: ‘I like this track, I like the bike, it’s working really well. Even if in the afternoon it was a bit too hot at the beginning of the Practice, I was always feeling competitive, always on the top. I feel confident with our work as always. I just want to do the normal things, I don’t want to change anything because we are battling for a championship. I’m fast working like this, so I’ll keep this type of work’.
The heat in Sepang wasn’t a significant issue, according to the championship leader: ‘I think it’s the same. It’s tough, for sure. Every year we have more experience, I’m stronger than ever, I feel strong. Maybe in the past few years I was struggling a bit more with the heat. Now it’s okay, and when you are on the bike is much better than when you are on the box. So, while riding is not really bad’.
On the other hand, Martín mentioned some issues he encountered: ‘I think we are struggling a bit with the engine brake at the moment. We have a lot of grip in the rear tyre, so with the Ducati bike you need to slide on entry, if not it’s pushing a bit the front. That’s why I crashed. So, I think you need to be really clever about how you use the engine brake to be competitive – more than the set-up, it’s better to work a bit more on the electronics’.
The #89 added: ‘Every crash I’ve had this season during the races – Germany, Jerez, and Mugello – has been the same. It was when the rear was pushing the front. So, I’m really trying to be really precise on that. Today we didn’t it in time and I crashed during the time attack. But I prefer to crash now than in the race’.