Jorge Martin “struggling”, “a bit far” from victory and wary of Marc Marquez
Jorge Martin expects Marc Marquez to remain a major MotoGP threat despite Aprilia locking out Friday’s top three at Mandalika.
MotoGP title leader Jorge Martin was at the tail end of Aprilia’s top-three sweep in Friday practice at the Indonesian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard, who missed last year’s Mandalika event through injury, finished almost half a second behind Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez and 0.3s behind team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.
Martin was still two places clear of closest title rival, Marc Marquez, but only after a late time-attack surge.
Before fitting fresh soft tyres and low fuel, Martin admitted he was “struggling” for confidence and sat only seventh during the race-pace phase of the session.
“I think I had some issues with my front tyre. It was getting ‘cold’,” he said, despite the near 60-degree track temperature.
“That’s strange but I was losing the front everywhere, so I was losing a lot of confidence.
“I couldn’t get into the pace and I was making a lot of mistakes. I felt I had the speed but couldn’t put a lot of lap times together.
“Then when I went into time attack, I felt like I could come back to normal with the front. But I didn’t have that extra to push for a great lap
“For sure, I did a good lap, but not amazing. Raul is a step ahead.”
Martin added: “I’m quite far from where I want to be. I feel I was struggling all Practice.
"In the morning I felt super good. I did my fastest lap with really used tyres. but then in the afternoon something changed, and I was struggling with the front a lot.
“I hope to solve that problem for tomorrow, and if I’m able to solve that, and get more confidence, I can for sure fight for the win. At the moment, we’re a bit far.”
"Marc will be there, absolutely"
For now, Martin’s fellow Aprilia riders appear to be his biggest opposition as he tries to rebuild a championship lead over Marquez that has been cut to just two points after Motegi.
“There are always big opponents. Here it seems Raul is quite strong,” Martin said.
But he is far from ruling out Marquez and Ducati.
“But also Marc is strong. We were super close in terms of time attack, super close in terms of pace.
“We need to fight all of them and Marc will be there absolutely.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
