Jorge Martin explains Malaysia MotoGP practice spill: ‘It’s good I crashed today’

MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin says “it’s good I crashed today” in Malaysian Grand Prix practice and has explained what caused his fall.

Martin comes to Malaysia 17 points clear of Francesco Bagnaia in the championship with - officially - two rounds remaining, and has his first opportunity to win the title this weekend.

The Pramac rider looked strong throughout the afternoon session at Sepang and was only 0.050s behind Bagnaia at the top of the timesheets, though did suffer a small crash at Turn 1 late on.

Martin explained that his crash was a result of how the GP24 behaves on corner entry when the the added grip from Michelin’s 2024 rear tyres.

“I was quite ok with my time attack, even if I almost crashed on my lap,” Martin told the media, including Crash.net, on Friday.

“Then I went through the straight and saw I was second, so I said ‘Ok, I will try to improve a bit more’.

“But it was too much already on the first corner and I just crashed.

“I think it’s positive that I crashed today because I can see the limit and understand why I crashed. So, it’s good to crash today.”

He added: “I think we are struggling a bit with the engine brake, for the moment.

“We have quite a lot of grip on the rear tyre. So, the Ducati bike you need to slide on the entry.

“If not, it’s pushing a bit on the front. So, that’s why I crashed.

“So, the thing is to be really clever on how you use the engine brake to be competitive - more than the set-up. It’s much better to stop with the set-up and work with the electronics.

All the crashes I had this season, like Germany, Jerez, Mugello, the three were the same.

“When the rear was coming back, it was pushing the front.

“So, I’m trying to be really precise with that. Today we didn’t make it in time and I crashed on the time attack, but I prefer to crash now than in the race.”

Despite his fall, Martin’s long run pace was strong in practice and wants to continue treating Malaysia like a “normal” weekend despite the overhanging championship situation.

“I mean, I like this track, I like this bike; it’s working really good,” he said.

“Even if the afternoon was a bit too hot at the beginning of the practice at least, I was feeling competitive always and always in the top.

“And I feel confident with our work, as always. I just want to do the normal things.

“I don’t want to change anything because we are battling for a championship. I mean, I am fast working like this, so I will keep this type of work.”

In FP1 on Friday, Martin found himself at one stage behind Bagnaia, who had been informed his title rival was following him.

Both slowed down on the back straight towards the final corner in what is being seen as the first of the mind games between the pair as the championship nears its end.

For his part, Martin explained: “I mean, I exited for a normal run.

“It was just coincidence I was behind him, but for him it was a big issue.

“So, he stopped in the middle of the race track and I stopped behind him because there was no sense to pull from him.

“So, yeah, then I saw it was too much and I was getting a bit bored. So, I just went for my normal run and do my work.”