Jorge Martin Slams Michelin In 'Stolen' MotoGP Title Controversy
Categories: MotoGP
Published: 19th November 2023
After falling behind his title rival Pecco Bagnaia in Qatar, Jorge Martin slams Michelin for ‘stealing’ his title hopes.
MotoGP contender Jorge Martin is convinced that the 2023 championship is slipping away from him due to circumstances beyond his control.
After a disappointing 10th-place finish in the Qatar Grand Prix, where his main rival Pecco Bagnaia secured second place, Martin’s title hopes took a significant hit.
The gap between the two contenders widened to 21 points, with only 37 points available in the Valencia finale.
This setback followed Martin’s commanding win in the sprint the day before, contrasting sharply with his lackluster Sunday performance.
Martin hinted at the issue while still on the bike, visibly glancing back at the rear tire of his Pramac-run Ducati.
When asked about the race, the Spaniard sarcastically remarked, “Well, I don’t know. It’s difficult to say. It seems like I forgot to ride.”
However, he quickly expressed his frustration, stating, “I think you could see already at the start, when my rear tire started spinning, it was like a stone.”
Martin believed the tire issue was evident from the beginning, despite the track conditions being clean, and the tire being relatively new.
Looking down at his rear tyre! 💨
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 19, 2023
It's a disaster of an evening for @88jorgemartin but if anything he just looks happy to have picked up what could be six crucial points 🤯#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/kZAM6SQQTW
He described feeling like he was on the verge of crashing in every corner and lamented that in such a competitive championship, after a great season of hard work, he felt the title was being “stolen” from him.
Blaming the tire directly, Martin stated, “I was the only rider in all the grid, in all categories, that this happened to.”
He criticized Michelin without mincing words, saying, “It’s unacceptable that a MotoGP championship is decided by a tire.”
Martin insisted that the incident was unique to him and urged improvement from Michelin, emphasizing the need for them to analyze and prevent such occurrences in the future.
Despite acknowledging the commonality of attributing disappointing sessions to tire quality, Martin expressed his frustration with the situation and the impact it had on the championship.
He emphasized that the championship should not be decided by a tire and hoped for better conditions in future battles for the championship.
