Jorge Martin has explained why he was the slowest Aprilia rider during Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix, attributing his performance to his absence from last year’s race due to injury.
While Aprilia demonstrated strong pace on the opening day at Phillip Island, with Marco Bezzecchi leading the times ahead of Raul Fernandez, Martin finished fifth, 0.255 seconds behind the fastest lap.
More concerning for Martin was being overtaken by his championship rival Marc Marquez, who, as the lone Ducati rider to challenge the Aprilias at the front, posted faster times. In fact, with Trackhouse’s Ogura matching Marquez’s time to finish fourth, Martin was the only Aprilia rider slower than the reigning world champion on Friday.
Martin revealed that he lacked a reference point on the RS-GP at Phillip Island, having missed last year’s race due to injury. Consequently, he reverted to the riding style he used during his Pramac Ducati days before needing to adjust to his current machine.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
“I needed to adapt to the Aprilia style because I’m really used to riding here with the Ducati, so I was trying to push a lot into the entry of the corners, but I was destroying the front tyres, so I had to re-adapt the style a bit,” Martin explained. “Towards the end, I was feeling much better, much more balanced.
“For sure, there are some details to improve, Bezzecchi is quite fast and the rest of the Aprilias. But the good thing is we have the data, we will try to match it.
“For Aprilia, it was a great day. For me it was good, honestly, better than what I expected. I think I did my lap record here, my personal record, so I’m happy.
“We are not far away, but on those two points I’m struggling a bit.”
Martin noted that he needs to be less aggressive with the front of the bike and flow more into the corners to achieve better drive at the exit.
“It’s a problem I used to have in the past; I still have it. I try to enter so fast and then I’m a bit late into the throttle,” he said. “Here, it seems like the problem was more significant, you feel it more because you need to take a lot of speed out of the corners.
“So I’m trying to brake and enter slowly, but then it’s paying off at the exit.”
With five rounds remaining, Martin maintains a two-point lead in the championship over Marquez, with Bezzecchi 46 points behind in third place.