Jorge Martin calls for Barcelona safety improvements after “dangerous” MotoGP crash

Jorge Martin suffered a concussion after an unusual crash at Turn 12 during opening practice in Barcelona on Friday

Jorge Martin believes the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya needs to extend the run-off area at Turn 12 after a crash during Catalan Grand Prix practice left him with a concussion.

The 2024 MotoGP champion lost the front-end of his Aprilia into the right-hander, with the bike smashing into the air fence before bouncing back into the gravel. With limited run-off available to slow him down, Martin hit the front fairing and was visibly shaken after getting back to his feet.

The Spaniard had to visit the medical centre for check-ups, with MotoGP’s official doctor later revealing that he was “slightly concussed” and also suffered bruising to his left forearm.

Martin was eventually cleared to take part in practice starts at the end of the session, but the incident renewed concerns about rider safety at what Martin described as a dangerous part of the circuit.

The 28-year-old said the crash immediately reminded him of the fatal accident that claimed the life of Moto2 rider Luis Salmon at the same corner in 2016.

“I think that it's really dangerous to crash there," he said. "I don't really like to say it, but it reminds me a lot about Luis Salom. When I was crashing, I thought about him straight away.

“Luckily, the bike turned so I went into the fairing and not the handlebars or other pieces. For sure, it's a place where they need to improve because it's really dangerous.”

Martin explained that he was trying to warm-up the tyre when he made a mistake at Turn 12 and hit the ground.

“I had more lean angle and more brake than the lap before,” he said. “But I was relaxed, I wasn't pushing.

“But we struggled a lot to put temperature into the front in the morning. The evening was very good, we could go with the medium, but the morning was tough to put temperature and that's why you couldn't even push. And if you don't push, you don't warm up, and then it never stops.

“The problem is more on the left for sure, but it happened also on the right. So we have to be really careful. At that point I wanted to be behind Fabio [di Giannantonio] just to warm up the tyre and then I crashed.”

Martin also went down at Turn 2 towards the end of the main practice session on Friday afternoon, leaving him 17th on the timesheets and forcing him to go through Q1 for the first time this season.