Improvement the focus for Jorge Martín in 2024

Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martín was the star attraction at this year’s London Motorcycle Show. And the Ducati rider shared his thoughts on last year’s thrilling MotoGP season with Charley Boorman on his Adventure Base Camp stage - sponsored by Ducati and the DRE Adventure Academy. 

Charley Boorman: I’m super excited. I've never been this close to a MotoGP rider who's both this famous and can ride so well. What an amazing year you had on the Ducati last year. The first thing I would like to ask is about the close racing at Valencia where you had all that rubber on the side of your of shoulder. How do you deal with that?

Jorge Martín: Well for sure, during the moment I didn't realise, I just felt the contact and tried to close the line so nobody could overtake me. But then when I saw the video, it was really close racing as you said.

You were so close to the title too; how did you deal with the whole idea of potentially winning a championship? 

It was a roller coaster of feelings because at the beginning of the season, even if I was strong and close to the lead, the championship is still far away. You feel pressure but then at the end of the season in October when everything was ending, I started to feel a little pressure and struggled to sleep. I started to do some mistakes, but even though I was strong at the end I wasn’t able to recover all the points. But for sure, it’s the life dream and when you see it that close it is not easy.

You had one of your most successful seasons, becoming a global name in the motorcycle world. How's your off-season training going in preparation for getting ready for this year?

It was a short off-season because we finished at the end of November, so just two months. I tried to relax a bit, but I had many events, so I was quite busy. And then when I started to train, I had some issues with my shoulder and my back. So, I've been a bit late in my training I think but finally in Malaysia when I went on the GP bike, I felt I was 100% and feeling great. I train a lot of hours and put a lot of work into the physical side so that I’m ready for the season.

Going back to when you were younger, who got you into bikes?  

It was absolutely my father. He used to race at an amateur level with a Yamaha in 2004 and 2005. Since I was young there were always a lot of bikes at home, he was really big fan of motorbikes. I used to watch a lot of races since from a young age. And when I was six, I was given a Chinese pocket bike, and I started in a parking lot so that's where I started riding. 

I know you do a lot of motocross now, especially for training, and one of the best things in the world is riding off-road. I’m known for running around the world with long journeys on motorbikes. But would you ever think of getting on the DesertX and spending some time on one of those?

I would love to do it and to spend some time, but not as you making a journey with a lot of kilometres because I feel I like to ride really, really fast. But I've never done it, so I don't know. But I would love to try the bike and go off-road for sure. My dad used to go to Morocco and Portugal and other places off-road with friends in a big group, so maybe I could do the same in the future with him.

When your father was riding, they didn't have any of the of the safety technology that you have now. When you're when you're on track does the improved safety, like the Alpinestars Tech-Air airbags, give you confidence to push to the limit?

Yes, for sure they give me confidence. But just as the technology of equipment improves, speed improves also. We’re getting faster every time, so the crashes are huge. You never want to crash, that’s for sure, and you never know what’s going to happen or if you are going to get injured. If I just lose the front, I’m not 100% that nothing will happen, but if you have a big highside you just never know.

I know I've crashed a lot in my life and the next day when you when you get out of bed I'm suffering. But if you've crashed in a session, you’ve still got to get back on the bike and qualify or race. Where is your mind at that point?

I think for us you can crash three or four times in a weekend, but once on Sunday at the race you don't you don't think about it, you just go flat out. I remember in 2021 I crashed, and I broke nine bones and was out for one month. That was a big crash, big injuries. And I started to come back to racing and I remember going back to Portimão where everything happened and going through that same corner, I was a little bit scared. But we are professionals, and we have to live with it. 

Going back to a corner like that, does it take one or two times going through it before you forget about it?

I still feel it three years after going into that corner. But I go the same speed as the rest. I remember overtaking riders in the race at that corner so it’s not a big problem, but you know you there's something there.  

Last year at India you had a big overheating problem. I don't think people realise even when the temperature is not so hot you still sweat a lot, it’s still very physical.

I think it was 40 degrees, and also inside the leathers you are much hotter than outside. So, it's never easy. That race I had some issues, I chose the wrong rear tyre, so I was struggling to keep on the pace of the front runners, even though I was almost there. Normally you look at pit board and it would say seven or eight laps remaining, but it said 18! So, I think also mentally I was destroyed and when I finished, I was knocked out, my heart rate was 230 bpm. I finished second but struggled to go to the podium. Afterwards I couldn't do any interviews, and I went to the box to try to recover. 

Nowadays GP is really physical, and we have to work a lot on not only the physical side, but the mental side, nutrition side, everything. We are completely at limits, so if some of these things are wrong its’s a complete disaster.

Looking forward, what are your thoughts on Marc Marquez riding on a Ducati this season?

For sure it will be a great challenge for us. I think he's one of the greatest, that’s for sure. For me it's not a motivation, because at the end I want to beat all the riders. But if I want to beat all of them then of course I will have to beat Marquez.

The level is so high nowadays, we are all so competitive and he will also struggle to win. I mean we're so close so let's see, it will be a good fight with him. 

The times are so close, it’s unbelievable at times.

If you miss one corner by half a metre, maybe you lose three positions. So, qualifying is crazy because it’s so important to make those places at the front for the race. 

And you don’t just have the one race. What’s your take on the sprint races?

With the sprint races, I’d like to have two every weekend! I think the sprint races are all about speed, raw speed. It’s my strong point and for me I find them quite easy. For Sunday races we have to manage the tyres, the power, the electronics, and that is where I need to work because I also have to win there. But the sprint races are easier to make and I really enjoy them. But I think the sprint wins should show on the record, not like a MotoGP win because they’re not like a Sunday win, but they should go on record.

As much as some riders don’t like the sprint races, they’re really designed for the audience. And as a MotoGP fan, it’s great to have two races over the weekend.

They make the sprint race for assault. I feel like we are so fast we don’t have any time to overtake. We are pushing 100% but on Sunday you cannot be that fast, so everything gets more compact. So, I don’t know exactly if it’s more show on Sunday, or more show on Saturday.

I guess they’re different. It’s all out on Saturday not having to worry about the tyres, whereas Sunday is perhaps more of a mind game.

For sure. I think the Saturday race is much riskier because we go maybe one second per lap faster, always with the soft tyre. On Sunday you just must manage the physical side. There’s no way you can go record pace, record pace, record pace, every lap. 

So, the goal for this season?

I don’t want to be obsessed with just winning, or just thinking about the end of the season. I want to think about the process. I am enjoying my training every day quite a lot, and riding my MotoGP bike, and improving myself. 

I think if the target is to improve myself then it will be difficult for the rest to follow the pace. I’m just going to focus on myself and try to improve, and then at the end I think winning is the consequence. So, the focus on improvement, and let’s see where we finish.