Martin’s rookie MotoGP year “the best and the worst” season
Pramac rider Jorge Martin says his rookie season in MotoGP was “the best and the worst season together”, having won a race but also suffered a violent crash in Portugal.
Martin stunned the paddock when he scored pole and finished third in just his second race in the Doha Grand Prix back in April, but would suffer a violent crash in FP3 at the next round in Portugal.
Suffering multiple fractures, Martin missed four races and had to undergo an operation, while the injury to his wrist would continue to plague him for much of the year.
But the Pramac rookie would also go on to win the Styrian GP from pole and end the year ninth overall aboard his factory-supported Ducati.
“Well, it’s been a really nice season, a really long season for me also with a lot of ups and downs,” Martin said when asked to reflect on his rookie campaign by Motorsport.com.
“I think it was the best and the worst season together, because with the injury it seemed like it was going to be the worst season of my career.
“But finally it was the best one, so being in a really bad moment [after the crash] and then coming back again with a victory, with podiums again, pole positions, always fighting for the top five when I finished races.
“So, I think we are strong, we did a really great job and we are ready for next season for sure.”
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Martin notes one of his biggest issues this season was the sheer volume of information about the bike he had to try and feed back to his team whenever he returned to his garage during track sessions.
He also noted tyre management with the Michelins was the hardest thing to understand on his step to MotoGP.
“I mean, the learning process has gone great,” he added.
“I think I’m still learning a lot. Every race I try to understand new things. I improved also the method of how I speak to the team.
“It’s difficult because every time I stop in the box I try to understand too much information and it’s not easy to speak all of that to the team.
“So, maybe I finish my day and maybe before dinner I’ll remember something like ‘oh, on this corner we need to change this’.
“So, it’s not easy, it’s a lot of information and it’s difficult to speak straight away after the practice.
“But every weekend I’m better with the [engine] maps, with the engine brake, with the power, I’m improving a lot on where I want.
“I think the most difficult thing this year was to understand the tyres, because I’m still struggling to manage the tyres.
“I try to start the last races a bit more slowly but I still ended up with not good tyres.
“So, we need to understand this and let’s see how we can improve for next year.”
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