Pramac MotoGP rider Jorge Martin says the error that cost him victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint was caused by him being distracted by a message on his dashboard.
Championship leader Martin had shot to the lead at the start with a brilliant launch from second position, overtaking the factory Ducati of polesitter and title rival Francesco Bagnaia.
Despite Bagnaia breathing down his neck in the middle part of the race, Martin was doing just enough to hold on to the position, as the two riders circulated within half a second of each other.
However, on lap 8 of 13, Martin ran wide into Turn 13, allowing Bagnaia to slip past him and take an important victory over him in a straight duel.
Speaking after the sprint, Martin revealed that he briefly lost concentration when he received a warning message about exceeding track limits, which forced the mistake that decided the outcome of the sprint.
“I did a small mistake that I paid heavily because I lost a bit of concentration,” he summed up.
“I just received a track limits warning in a bad place. I started looking at the dash in a bad place and I missed the line for two metres and then I let Pecco pass.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Till that moment I think I was really in a good position. Even if he was close I was having everything under control and I had a really good pace.”
MotoGP is planning to introduce Formula 1-style radio messages in a phased manner, with race direction set to be allowed a one-way line to riders from 2025 onwards.
Martin said it was important for MotoGP stakeholders to discuss the timing of such messages with race control, so they are not transmitted to riders while they are focusing on cornering.
“I didn’t try the radio messages but for sure if we have the radio you can with the team maybe understand where they can talk to you.
“Because I don’t know when race direction are sending these [text] messages but for sure if it’s in the middle of a corner, sometimes there are a lot of colours [on the dash] and this isn’t yellow. so i just looked into it for a millisecond but I missed my line.
“So we need to speak with race direction to have some place on the track to send these messages because if not it can be a big problem.”
Bagnaia’s sprint win has brought him within four points of Martin in the standings, meaning the Italian will retake the lead if the duo finish in the same position on Sunday.
However, Martin was confident about his prospects in the full-distance race, buoyed by the pace he showed in the final stages of the sprint while running behind Bagnaia.
“When he overtook me, I thought I was going to lose one second but then I saw I was able to close the gap.
“I think [with] maybe two or three laps I could even attack [him]. So I’m confident for tomorrow that even he overtakes me, I can fight back.
“In other tracks I struggled a lot to follow him, but here I feel like I can follow him quite close and it’s not a big problem for the front.
He added: “With the medium [tyre] I feel much better for the balance of my bike. I saw Pecco with the soft [in sprint] was stronger than me so it was already difficult to beat him.
“But for tomorrow I am a bit more confident [when everyone runs on medium tyre]. For sure, I will try to focus on myself, not look a lot on the dash or the pitboard, just trying to follow because if I give my 100% it will be difficult for them to make this strong pace.”