MotoGP Catalan GP

Jorge Martin explains four crashes in two days at Catalan GP

It was a tough day for Jorge Martin in Barcelona as he crashed in both qualifying and sprint, with Marco Bezzecchi’s poor form adding to Aprilia’s misery

Jorge Martin says there is no single explanation behind the four crashes he has suffered across the Catalan Grand Prix weekend so far, insisting he still feels confident on the Aprilia.

Just a week after his dominant double win in the French Grand Prix, the 2024 MotoGP champion has struggled to carry the momentum, with a series of incidents denting his performances in Barcelona.

Martin went down twice in practice on Friday, with the first of the two incidents in FP1 leaving him with concussion and a trip to the medical centre for necessary check-ups.

He provided a glimpse of his speed with an impressive lap time in Q1, only to crash just moments later at Turn 5, damaging his bike again.

After getting through to Q2 and qualifying ninth, he was making headway in the sprint but hit the deck yet again, sliding out of sixth place on lap 3.

Martin insisted that each incident was caused by different reasons, but largely took responsibility for his wretched run in the opening two days of the weekend.

“[I suffered] some small injuries. My whole body is a bit bruised from the impacts, there are a couple of sprains in my foot. But nothing that doesn't let me ride in a good way. So I'm fine,” he said.

“This track is much more tricky than usual and it's really difficult to find the limit. And when you find it, you crash. So I need to anticipate a little bit

“Behind a crash, there is always some human error, 99% [of the times]. Today, I had some tailwind. Maybe I kept the front brake too much, and I crashed, but this is part of the process, also for understanding the bike.”

Asked if he was angry with himself, Martin replied: “No. There's always something behind. First crash, cold tyre. Second crash, cold tyre. Third crash, I was pushing like hell and I was on the dirt. So it's normal.

“And today [in the sprint], I don't really get it. I will move forward tomorrow. I'm fast in corner 10, maybe too much. So maybe I need to brake a bit earlier.”

With the factory duo struggling, Raul Fernandez led the charge for Aprilia in fourth place, having run in the podium positions for much of the sprint.

Martin believes a big result was on the cards had he stayed upright on the bike and finished the sprint.

“I think my potential was the podium or to fight for that win,” he lamented. “But today is today and it's already gone.”