Jorge Martin and Pramac miss deadline: “Should’ve decided fairing but we didn’t”
Jorge Martin did not enjoy using the new Pramac fairing but admits Ducati want him to persevere
Jorge Martin revealed that Pramac Ducati missed an internal deadline to decide which fairing to use in the first MotoGP race of the season.
Pramac hoped to finalise a decision on Wednesday, the second day of the Sepang test, but were unable to do so because Martin didn’t enjoy using an updated fairing.
Instead, Martin and Pramac must face a significant problem on Thursday, the final day of the test, to put the wheels in motion for the start of the 2024 season.
“It was not an easy day,” Martin glumly said.
“For sure, we were fast at the beginning of the day with the old fairing.
“They we started to use the new fairing and I didn’t feel so good.
“Complicated day, because we should have decided the new fairing but we didn’t.
“Tomorrow we must understand if it is better, or if we keep the old one for the first race.”
A potential problem is that Ducati might favour the new fairing, which they have put developmental work into, but Martin so far prefers the old version.
Asked about Ducati’s input to the decision, Martin said: “For sure, they did a lot of work. They want it to work.
“They want me to ride with it, to understand, to get a lot of information from it.
“But I don’t want to lose the way. Sometimes you start with one, then another one, change a lot of things.
“Then it’s not a good point.
“I want to understand well but without losing my riding style.”
Martin described the new fairing: “It’s a bit more heavy. I feel the bike is more heavy.
“The feeling on braking is better but, in the rest of the circuit, I struggle.
“Tomorrow we can understand the way to go and maybe do some changes on the bike to improve the feeling.
“We need to keep working. I don’t want to lose a lot of time because we have things to try tomorrow.
“It’s really important to understand the fairing.”
He insisted that the quantity of tyres left to use on the final day of the Sepang test will not influence the decision.
“I don’t need a lot of laps,” he said. “We have to be clear, and understand if we have potential with the fairing, or go to the old one.
“Then we have some set-up and electronic parts to try, which we can do with used tyres. This is not a big problem.
“But the fairing I really want to try.”
The final preseason test is in Qatar on February 19 and 20, potentially giving Pramac two more days to ponder their big call.
The first round of the 2024 season is on March 8-10 in Qatar.
“I guess we can still try in Qatar,” Martin considered.
“But the problem? We don’t have enough time. It’s better if we do something tomorrow.”
Martin narrowly missed out on last season’s MotoGP championship to Francesco Bagnaia.
Both riders will return this year on the latest-spec Desmosedici.
The developmental talking points have added intrigue because Marc Marquez, with Gresini, will have a ‘23 Ducati to start the year. The same bike which Martin and Bagnaia did battle with, last year.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
