Jorge Martin claims Assen MotoGP heat may be worse than India race he fainted at

Jorge Martin has suggested that if the Assen MotoGP heat does not reduce by Sunday the 27-lap MotoGP distance should be reduced amid intensity he says is potentially worse than in India in 2023.

The 2023 Indian MotoGP is one of the definitive Jorge Martin races, arguably, even though he didn’t win, thanks to his late defence of second position from Fabio Quartararo before fainting post-race.

Ambient temperature that day in India was recorded at 33C in the official results with 65 per cent humidity.

The ambient temperature during Practice at Assen today (26 June) was 36C with 40 per cent humidity. On paper, then, the heat itself was slightly more intense than in India three years ago, and Martin says it felt that way.

“Honestly, I don't remember this hot or this feeling in a motorbike," Martin said after Practice in comments that opposed those of Luca Marini, who was comparatively unbothered by the heat.

“I feel even much better in Thailand or in Malaysia with more humid weather than here. 

“Here I feel really burning, my face, my body, so I try to prepare as well as I can with the food, with the recovery and with sleeping well because I know that we have to recover well from a day as tough as this one.”

He was then asked about the comparison with India.

“I feel worse,” he responded. “Maybe I don't remember India, but I feel more or less the same, honestly. 

“Even on the times, you can see our pace is one and a half seconds slower than maybe in the morning. For sure, later when we put the soft we can do one lap fast, but in terms of pace, we were quite slow. 

“You feel like the bike is not working, the engine is not working, the body is not really– after two or three laps in a row, you start to feel the drop, so it's really tough. 

“So tomorrow we'll be [...] surviving. Surviving race tomorrow.”

The Aprilia Racing rider added that the 27-lap distance on Sunday would be “not really healthy” if the heat in two days is the same as today.

“I think it's the same for everybody,” he said, “but for sure if we're going to race in these conditions, we have to think a bit about the situation because I think it's not really healthy to race 27 laps like this. 

“But it seems like Sunday will be better, so it's not a big issue.”

Indeed, the forecast has the weather in Assen due to remain dry all weekend, with temperatures dropping to 30C by Sunday – still hot, but less so than today.