Martín: "The stones of the loopholes are like knives"

Amid widespread opinions about the lack of safety of the new Mandalika circuit, on the Indonesian island of Lombok , which will host the second grand prix of the 2022 MotoGP calendar, Jorge Martín warned of the danger of falling on the loopholes of the track, whose gravel “is like knives,” he said.

Martín finished the second day of pre-season testing in Mandalika with the ninth fastest time of the day (1.31.665), 0.376 behind Luca Marini, the fastest of the day, after completing 68 laps around the track and having to spend quite some time on the box due to a crash at turn 15.

“Yes, as usual I suffered a fall,” said the man from Madrid with a smile, remembering that he had already gone to the ground the day before.

“I went a little wide at turn 10, a right-hander, and when I got to 15 I had a pretty hard crash, very fast. A quick crash, in fourth gear”, just as he finished setting his best split in the fast second sector of the circuit and was improving on his fastest time of the day.

Despite the bump, Martín’s crash ended without major consequences, a relief for a driver who last year was severely affected by injuries, especially after the hard crash at the Portuguese Grand Prix, which kept him three races at home .

The poor conditions of the circuit, with a lot of mud and dirt, do not help the rider’s safety.

“It’s dangerous, but it is what it is and tomorrow we’ll keep pushing. It can be ridden, but we have to be very careful with the lines, they’re very fine and we can’t get out of them”, in reference to the clean line that has been created by the passage of the motorcycles on the asphalt.

“If you make a small mistake and go off, you can have a really big crash,” he warned.

However, what surprised Martín the most was the impact with the gravel in the run-off, the safety zone that surrounds the asphalt.

“That’s another point, gravel is really weird and it’s very painful when you hit it,” he said.

“I don’t know why, but the bump still hurts, I only lost the front part, but this gravel is very hard. Normally they are small stones, but here they are like knives, they need to check that,” asked the Pramac-Ducati rider .

On a purely sporting level, Martín was happy with his pace.

“We’re making a lot of progress. I think I’m very competitive in terms of pace. I don’t know about the other Ducati riders, but I’m sure I have one of the best paces. I’m happy with that.”

“I think now in terms of performance the GP22 is a bit better. We just need to find the basic settings and a bit more rear grip.”

“I think that on my fastest lap today I could have been in the top two, even the first, but I found about six bikes in the middle of the track and I lost a lot of time. But I think the bike is very fast,” Martinator settled.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

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Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing