Reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin says his pair of crashes in Practice at the Japanese Grand Prix stemmed from a “lack of confidence” with the front end of his Aprilia.
The Spaniard, a former winner at Motegi during his Ducati stint, started Friday strongly with second place in FP1, just behind former title rival Pecco Bagnaia. But he was unable to carry that momentum into the afternoon’s hour-long Practice session, suffering two crashes first at Turn 5, then again at Turn 7.
Those incidents disrupted his rhythm and forced a bike change, leaving him only 13th at the chequered flag and outside the automatic Q2 spots.
“In the morning I felt good, but in the afternoon I lacked confidence with the front and crashed twice,” Martin explained. “The crashes cost me a lot of track time, and by the time I rejoined, the time attack was already underway. I had to go out on a bike and set-up I’d never tried before.
“Even so, in the first time attack I was fourth, but in the second there were a lot of yellow flags. The feeling was positive nonetheless, and on Saturday we’ll try to take another step forward.”
Martin revealed that his crew had made some set-up changes for Practice but doubts they were responsible for the crashes, though he admitted “something was wrong with the front tyre.”
While Martin struggled, teammate Marco Bezzecchi impressed again on the factory RS-GP, topping the Practice session ahead of KTM’s Pedro Acosta and showing strong long-run pace.
Martin had felt more at ease on the Aprilia since ergonomic updates at the recent Misano test, which allowed him to ride at about 80% of his potential. He now faces a challenging Q1 session on Saturday against the likes of Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Marquez, Enea Bastianini, and Franco Morbidelli.
Be the first to comment