Polesitter Martin led Saturday’s first sprint of the 2024 season from start to finish to score his 10th half-distance race win since the format was introduced last year.
But the Spaniard admitted that rear chatter problems on used tyres that plagued him throughout pre-season testing reared their head in Saturday’s sprint.
As such, he felt he was “really close to crashing” on a number of occasions across the 11-lap contest and thinks fighting for a win in the grand prix on Sunday with such problems would be “impossible”.
“I was fast, but the rear chatter is still there,” Martin said in parc ferme.
“So, we need to work on it. I think today I was really close to crashing in a lot of corners.
“So, I was struggling a lot. Today we achieved it [the win], but for sure tomorrow if we keep like this [the chatter problem] it will be impossible.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“So, let’s work on it. I feel confident, I feel fast. The only thing is the bike, so we’re going to work on it tonight and let’s see if we can enjoy a big one.”
Martin says the problem started “quite early in the race”, and admits that without the pole and keeping Brad Binder behind him, he wouldn’t have been able to win the sprint.
“Well, I think quite early in the race I started to have a bit of a problem,” he explained.
“I don’t want to get into it because I don’t know if I can, but I cannot ride perfectly, I feel a bit too much on the limit.
“We have some ideas for tomorrow but it’s quite tight to try in the warm-up and then race. So, tomorrow will be a difficult race.
“I think without that pole position, or even if Brad overtook me in that first corner, I wouldn’t win.
“That’s why I tried to keep that position and close the place to Brad.
“Then I was able to keep half a second [gap to Binder], that surprised me. I thought they were going to catch me, but they didn’t.”
Asked if he could see this problem in the data of other Ducatis, he said: “It’s an issue we have to solve and we’re looking into it.
“A bit more [of a GP24 issue]. Last season I didn’t have it.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Reigning double world champion Francesco Bagnaia, who was fourth in the sprint on his factory team Ducati, was also hampered by rear chatter.
But he thinks this was more related to tyre pressures…
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