Jorge Martín was the fifth fastest in the practice session for the MotoGP Spanish GP. Despite having good sensations, he couldn’t put together an ideal lap when he went to attack the stopwatch, finishing 0.410s behind Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) who led.
The Prima Pramac Spanish rider commented: ‘With the [medium] tire I felt very strong. I did a series of 11 laps and I was improving in the last laps with a very good pace compared to last season with the medium tire. So, I am very confident with that. Maybe I lacked a few laps with the soft tire to try to understand more and I had difficulties attacking the stopwatch to make a very good lap. So, I believe that if we put everything together on Saturday I can be very fast and the goal is to be at the front‘.
One of the problems Martín has experienced this year – vibrations – was not felt this Friday: ‘I didn’t have vibrations, so I’m happy. That’s why we did the sequence of 11 laps, to understand where it goes with normal temperature, to understand what progress could be made, and the bike was working really well. I found some traffic, but the pace was always in the 1m37s range. I think it’s a reasonable pace to try to win races‘.
Questioned about whether the absence of vibrations is due to work on the bike or the Jerez circuit, last year’s vice-champion explained that it is difficult to be certain: ‘I think it’s a combination of everything, but I believe it’s more about the track or maybe the temperature. I really don’t know, because for us it’s difficult to understand why this is happening. We expected some vibrations in some corners, but we ended up not having them. So, I’m definitely happy about that. It was working perfectly. So, let’s go to Saturday and Sunday, and then we’ll think about it in the next races‘.
The rain arrived in Jerez this Saturday, but Martín is not worried… unless there are mixed conditions: ‘I think I can be very fast in the rain. I have won in the past in the rain, so I am confident about that. I am a bit worried if it’s mixed conditions, because it’s not a condition in which I feel very confident, when we are with rain tires and dry conditions I have some difficulties. I hope for a lot of rain or dry weather. If not, I will try to improve my style in mixed conditions‘.
