“We lost the direction”: Jorge Martin’s damning Aprilia verdict after Brno MotoGP

Aprilia has “lost the direction”, according to Jorge Martin, after the Spaniard finished ninth at the Brno MotoGP.

Martin’s 13th-place finish was in part thanks to his double long lap penalty, which was earned at Balaton Park for causing the first turn crash there.

The Spaniard ran on the green paint on the exit of turn seven when he took his penalties and picked up two track limit strikes as a result, but he said afterwards that to go outside the track limits was safer.

“For sure I wanted to go on the green because it was the safest way to rejoin without really going into a risky situation,” Jorge Martin said after the MotoGP race in Czechia.

“When I tried it on Friday, Simon [Crafar] told me that I was able to go on the green, then I think some teams argued about that, so now it just was a track limit [strike]. 

“So, I knew that I had two more track limits, but this track I don’t really go off-track in other places, so it wasn’t a problem for me. 

“It was absolutely the strategy to go on the green. The long laps went super-smooth and I was losing not that much.”

But Martin’s result was not only for the penalties, it was also for a lack of pace all weekend that was evident first in Practice when he was outside the top-10, again in qualifying when he was only 10th, once more in the Sprint when he was fifth after Marco Bezzecchi crashed in front of him, and finally in the race when, after taking the two penalties and dropping to 13th, he recovered only to ninth, partly thanks to the retirement of Pedro Acosta with a technical problem.

Martin explained afterwards that he lacked front end confidence at Brno, and that he feels he and Aprilia have “lost the direction” only three weeks on from finishing 1-2 at Mugello.

“I’m happy with the overall weekend, let’s say, because every practice I was improving a bit, but I feel we are really far away from Ducati at the moment, or from the victory,” Martin said.

“I don’t have any confidence in the front. I always feel like crashing. 

“We lost the direction, I don’t know why. We have to understand well. 

“I hope that Assen will be a better place for us, much more flow and this will help the Aprilia and my style. We need to improve, absolutely.”

The Aprilia Racing rider added that he is still missing a base setup and that he would like to have a test. That is not possible, so he will sacrifice some Fridays in the upcoming races to try to find improvements.

“For me, I don’t have still a base setup,” he said.

“There are races where I race, like Le Mans, with one setup, but this is not working in other tracks. This is a pity because I still don’t find it. 

“I would love to have a test, honestly, but we don’t have it. So, some Fridays during the season I will try to take as a test, try new things and try to get back that front feeling because as soon as I get back the front feeling I will be fighting for the top.”