Jorge Martin is the fastest rider on the grid now, but to achieve the world title it is often not enough just to be the fastest, it is also necessary to be consistent.
However, the Spanish rider maintains his excellent form at the start of the Thai GP, scoring the top position in both practice sessions on Friday. Despite this, the #89 suffered a crash in the last session of the day, near the end, something that left the Spanish rider surprised as he felt he was not going to the limit of his Ducati:
– Certainly, I wanted to improve a little bit, because you never know if you’re inside or outside and here we are very close. I saw the data, I braked a little bit earlier and I was getting there slower, so I think it was a bounce or something, I have to understand tomorrow on the track, so I don’t repeat the same. But I wasn’t on the edge, I think. (…) First in the two sessions, in the morning it was a bit easier with the new tyres, but in the afternoon, I was very competitive with the morning tyres because everyone put on the new tyres and I was on the used tyres. Still, I was in the top 5, top 6 and that’s very good for tomorrow and Sunday. It’s a track where the tyres, both front and rear, have a big loss, so it’s going to be difficult to understand for Sunday, but it’s the same for everyone and hopefully I can improve a little bit more.
Jorge Martin also said that the Thai circuit does not yet offer the best grip conditions, but that he expects the times to drop tomorrow:
– In the morning I think the track was very dirty, and in the afternoon, it was very hot, so the grip was not the best. I think we’re going to be a little bit faster, but it is what it is. I think tomorrow we’ll improve a little bit.
Martin ended the first day’s debrief by stating that he feels prepared for the Sprint, but with what happened in the long race in Australia, he is a little more cautious in his approach to the long race:
– Yes, I feel more prepared for the Sprint than for Sunday. I think Sunday is going to be a very long race and as I’ve told you, like what happened at Phillip Island, it’s not easy to come here and see that the tyres are losing a lot. So hopefully we make the best choice, that we can understand what my opponents are doing and hopefully we can do something like the other weeks.