Jorge Martin has conceded he “struggled” through Friday practice at the Indonesian Grand Prix despite finishing third-quickest, attributing his difficulties to tyre temperature issues.
As Raul Fernandez set the pace in Practice with a new lap record on the Trackhouse-run Aprilia, factory rider Martin finished a distant third behind the countryman and his team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, facing a 0.481s deficit to the front.
He also trailed behind Bezzecchi in the opening practice of the day, with the Italian edging him out by 0.26s in both sessions.
Although Martin comfortably outpaced his chief title rival Marc Marquez, who has always struggled at Mandalika, the 2024 champion was disappointed with his form in practice, revealing he struggled to get his front tyre up to temperature.
“I had some issues with my front tyre. It was getting cold,” he explained.
“I was losing the front everywhere, so I was losing a lot of confidence. I couldn’t get into the pace, I was making a lot of mistakes.
“I felt I had speed, but I couldn’t put a lot of laps together. When I went into time attack, everything came back to normal with the front. I was happy about that. But I didn’t have that extra tool to push for a great lap.
“For sure, I did a good lap, but not amazing. Raul is a step ahead.”
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Although Bezzecchi was seen as the pre-weekend favourite for victory based on the speed he demonstrated at Mandalika last year, Martin himself has a strong record at the 4.3km track, having won the Indonesian GP with Pramac Ducati in 2024 en route to the title.
Martin is hoping that Aprilia will be able to find a solution for his front tyre problems overnight, having made a similar step in Japan last weekend after struggling on Friday.
“I am far from where I want to be,” he admitted. “I feel I was struggling all the practice.
“In the morning, I was feeling super good. I did my last lap, the fastest lap, with really used tyres. But in the evening something changed and I was struggling with the front a lot.
“So I hope to solve that problem for tomorrow. If I am able to solve that and get more confidence, I can be in the fight for sure for the win. But at the moment we are a bit far.”’
Martin also remains wary of what Marquez can achieve on the Ducati this weekend, saying he found the reigning champion – who finished two places behind in fifth – to be quicker on long runs.
“Marc is seven tenths off the lead, but only two tenths behind me, so there isn’t that much of a gap,” he said.
“Obviously, Raúl had a great day today and felt perfect. So now we have the work to do to close the gap.
“But I think Marc is just as good as me, his pace is even better. I knew they were going to work things out and that it wasn’t going to be like other years.”
Heading into Saturday’s sprint, Martin leads the championship by two points over Marquez, with Bezzecchi 49 points adrift in third and the two Trackhouse riders not realistically in the title fight.
Asked whether his Aprilia stablemates were a bigger concern for him than Marquez this weekend, he said “They are always big opponents. Here, it seems like Raul is quite strong, but also Marc is strong.
“We were super close in terms of time attack, super close in terms of pace, in the morning and the evening, so you need to fight all of them. I think Marc will be there, absolutely.”
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