Aprilia Racing Team rider Jorge Martin on Wednesday faced a disastrous accident that led medical personnel to transport him to nearby hospital care at the beginning of the Sepang MotoGP test.
As the 10-minute countdown reached its end at midday the Spaniard became airborne after his Aprilia RS-GP threw him violently into a hard right angle spin ending his flight with a hard landing onto the track surface.
According to Michelin’s MotoGP boss, Piero Taramasso, Jorge Martin experienced a rear tyre temperature decrease of 15C which caused his initial Sepang test crash.
“The outside temperature was fine. The inside temperature sensor, on the other hand, shows us that it is about 15 degrees [Celsius] below what we consider normal, which is between 90 and 100 degrees, and that of Marco Bezzecchi&s.” Taramasso said.
“This drop can be due to different reasons. It was less hot than usual, and the bike had returned to the pit after a first crash.
“Or maybe there was something wrong with the tyre blankets. But we have to keep investigating.” he added.
Aprilia Racing Team boss Massimo Rivola has confirmed that the collected data showed no faults with the bike and confirmed Jorge made no mistakes.
He directly approached Michelin to inquire about the previous use of the rear compound while extending that he didn’t want to learn about any potential 11-month-term storage.
“The data shows that the bike had no problem, and that Jorge did not make any mistakes.” Rivola said.
“I have asked Michelin for the history of the [rear] compound. I wouldn’t like to know that it had been stored for 11 months,” Rivola added.
After securing the world title victor last season Martín became the first premier class winner from an independent team in decades since Valentino Rossi’s time.
