LUSAIL – “I feel like they stole this championship from me. I was sure that on Sunday I would recover more points on Pecco, arriving in Valencia ahead of him in the standings. Instead. It is unacceptable that a world championship is decided by the wrong tyre. I hope Michelin gives us an explanation: why did this happen to me?”. Jorge Martin there is no peace. After Saturday’s victory in the sprint race, he was convinced he was uncatchable. “When will I get an opportunity like this again?”. But from the start of yesterday’s race he understood that something was wrong. And he almost seems to scream conspiracy. “Did you see how I slipped at the start? It looked like I had 30 lap used tires, or it was a very dirty track. But on the same day, and in 3 different categories, it only happened to me. Strange”.
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Taramasso (Michelin): “Tire fresh from the factory”
Piero Taramasso, track manager for the French company, explained that “Michelin is analyzing Martin’s data after the race. What we can say is that his rear tire came straight from the factory, it was not used or warmed up on any other occasion before the race.” Martinator mounted ‘hard’ tyres, like almost all the other riders on the grid: “Correct choice, because the new Lusail asphalt is more aggressive than in the past. But in the last lap of the race the track record was broken, a sign that the performance of the tires was consistent.”
Marini: “The fault lies with the type of start Jorge makes”
Luca Marini gave his technical explanation: “Jorge Martin is someone who always starts by detaching his body from the saddle. The lack of weight on the rear part of the bike could have caused the ‘slipping’”. Valid hypothesis to describe the uncertainty that caused the Spaniard to lose some positions at the green light, but the fact remains that during the race Martinator was lapping a second and a half slower than his rivals. “From a sporting point of view, what happened to him is unfair. He deserved to fight on equal terms with Pecco this time too,” he maintains Davide Tardozziteam manager of Ducati official.
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by our correspondent Massimo Calandri
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Martinator: “I wasn’t beaten by a rider”
Martin said he laughed at the absurdity of the situation in the final laps of the race. “I’m not even angry. Because I wasn’t beaten by another driver. At the beginning, it didn’t take me long to understand that it was a different race from the others. Pecco says that it happened to him in the past too, but I really risked falling at every turn and I’m proud to have reached the end.” And now, Jorge? “We have to give everything, win both races. Hoping that something truly surprising will happen, like in 2006 (when Valentino lost a world championship that already seemed to be in the safe).”
The ‘yellow’ of too low blood pressure
Piero Taramasso also returned to the delicate issue of tire pressure and the violations in which several riders have stumbled: “We give a minimum pressure value to be respected: it is a question of safety, otherwise the tire casing flexes to the point of breaking” . It’s the same thing that also applies in everyday life, when someone goes by car and, to protect their own safety, checks that the tires are not flat. “We ask that this pressure in the race be respected for a minimum number of laps, guaranteeing that the pressure is there and the tire is safe: half of the race on Sunday, and 30% of the duration from the sprint on Saturday”. The pressure control takes place with unified sensors for all the bikes, the values are transmitted through an encrypted channel directly to the Race Direction, which checks in real time and can immediately intervene as soon as the race ends. The more deflated tire in certain hot situations should improve the feeling of those who ride the bike. “There are riders and also motorcycles (like the Ducatis) which, based on their geometry and load distribution, are more sensitive. But believe me: it’s not with that trick that you win races, let alone a world championship.”
