Pramac rider Jorge Martin is running a new part that is standard across all other Ducati MotoGP bikes with the hope that it will allow him to cut down on crashes in the second part of the season.
Martin revealed that he had been racing with a slightly different component on his Desmosedici compared to other Ducati riders over the last few years, which makes the front end more vulnerable during cornering.
Having identified its role in three notable falls during the opening leg of the campaign, including his penultimate lap shunt at Sachsenring that handed the championship lead to title rival Francesco Bagnaia, Martin has now abandoned his approach and opted for the same solution as other members of the Ducati contingent.
“There is a part to test, because we think that’s what was causing the crashes,” he explained. “There was a part on the bike which for the last two seasons I had a different one compared to the rest of the Ducatis.
“So, we went back to the standard [part] a little bit. I had doubts if it would go fast, and in the end I felt even better. Obviously it has some negative points, but I felt very good. That’s what I’ve proved.”
While Martin refused to reveal exactly what he was testing at Silverstone on Friday, he did reveal it had something to do with braking on the GP24.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“It’s on braking,” he said. “Today it wasn’t my strongest point, the braking. I felt really good in sector three, all those fast changes of directions, I really love them. But we need to keep working [on braking].”
Explaining the impact it has on his riding, the 26-year-old added: “It seems like it is pushing a bit less the front tyre. it seems it is pushing a bit less and I can slide a bit going into the corner.”
The new part, however, comes with its downsides, with the Spaniard revealing that it compromised the stability of the bike.
“I lose a bit of stability but I think it was the first day with it so we can control it,” he said. “For the moment it is a bit on the limit but I can control it so now isn’t [the time] to go the other way.”
Martin set the pace in Friday practice for Pramac, leading Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro by 0.045s after setting a best time of 1m57.911s late in the one-hour afternoon session.
Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova and Ruben Carballo
