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Friday in Qatar was the scene of the return of world champion Jorge Martin, back from a long and complicated injury that has prevented him from getting close to his Aprilia in any way since testing. So while the rest of the grid faced free practice with the goal of centering the now-essential pre-qualifying session, Martin faced an all-personal battle with his physique, straining to handle a MotoGP bike that is more than challenging even for the most trained of riders.
"I'm not thinking about the times, it's not my war," the Spaniard admitted honestly to reporters, and in addition to managing the pain, also had to deal with the total absence of a setup, thus relying on the work done by his teammate in this first start of the season. So it was not the debut he may have imagined when he signed for the factory team on that fateful Mugello weekend, but the Spaniard remains optimistic and realistic - there is still much work to be done to make up for lost time.
"Now it's not so bad after taking a lot of painkillers," Martin began, "but I'm really exhausted, it's really challenging to ride a MotoGP bike on the first day after a long break. Overall I think it didn't go so bad, the goal was to understand my physical condition and being able to get through the whole day is already an achievement. I feel good, I think it went better than I expected."
What is your current physical condition?
"In general I feel a lot of pain, in the left turns I can manage but then I am very tired because I compensate with the right side. In the right turns, on the other hand, I have even more difficulty. In the morning I did a couple of laps and had to stop, in the evening I managed to do 5-6 and the step forward was gigantic. Now I will have to figure out what condition I will wake up in tomorrow morning and how much I can improve over the weekend. Ideally I'd like to keep working this way."
What was your feeling about the bike?
"I think there are many pieces to put together, my riding style has not changed, although from Ducati the change has been there. Now the main problem remains braking. In corner entry I am not consistent, sometimes I feel something while sometimes I don't. I lack that consistency on the bike, while in terms of setup I am totally out of what is my base. For me today was like the first day in Malaysia, there I did eight full laps but without good grip. Here we made solid steps forward, I sense the potential of the Aprilia, but to get back to feeling competitive again I will need three or four races. Right now I'm not aiming to set fast times, although I'm obviously keeping an eye on my gap to the benchmark. It's not my war, I feel."
In your last few outings you also crashed, was part of the process also regaining that confidence and assurance?
"It's exactly like that 100 percent, before today I was afraid and didn't know what to expect, I was nervous. The last feelings I had had on the bike had been terrible, my fear was to find those same feelings again. Instead from the first lap it was not like that, I found myself touching with my elbow again and the sensations came back. That's why I'm happy, although I think we're a long way off both in terms of electronics and setup. It's not just one thing but several aspects. Now that I'm back I was able to give feedback knowing what I was saying because the sensations are back, I think we took a step forward today and we have to continue on this path."
Do you think you can give proper feedback given your less than optimal physical condition?
"I'm not running at my 100 percent in terms of risk, I'm trying to stay more on the safe side. But I'm pushing, the feeling is there. In the fast lap maybe I'm not ready for it, initially I even asked the team not to use the soft, although then we used it because it's valuable data. I'm running 90 percent, I'm keeping that 10 percent so I don't run into more injuries. When I feel ready and at 100 percent of my physical condition, I will go back to pushing like I have in the past."
Do you think you will be able to handle the race?
"Hard to say, if you ask me now I would say it's impossible but it would be better to ask me in the morning. It is a possibility but we will know more tomorrow. The important thing for me now is to ride the bike and understand it, because I have a lot of work to do."
