“For Michele Garcia and Rob Mac, both top guys, to get together is not heard of usually and also posed logistical challenges what with the wheels of the two machines not being inter-changeable as well as having two bike crews from different teams coming together to make one team for a weekend. But it was really great that they wanted to create this situation with me and also that they were able to pool resources to create something that worked well for everyone.”
As for his outing at the Suzuki 8 Hour World Endurance race, Martin reckoned that was very useful as it got him back in the ‘groove' prior to the Brands weekend.
He and team-mates Igor Jerman and fellow Australian Damian Cudlin were heading for a top ten finish at Suzuki, before a mechanical issue with a broken heat exchange lost them ten laps, putting them back to 65th position. A hard fight saw the trio pull their way back up to 33rd at the chequered flag, which was a creditable effort, also given that they were running on Pirellis in a race where
Bridgestone and Michelin have superior experience.
“Having not ridden in a race situation for a couple of months, the Suzuka 8 Hour was a great way for me to get ‘bike fit' in preparation for
Brands Hatch and I enjoyed racing with the team too,” he confirmed.
“It's been a pretty busy month what with commentating, testing and racing all back to back, but I've really enjoyed being back racing and also the variety of races I've been competing in and bikes I've been riding on,” he summed-up.
