MotoGP, Martin warns: "Honda and Yamaha are dangerous. Marini surprised me"

Together with his brand-mate Pecco Bagnaia he was the major protagonist of the 2023 MotoGP season. Jorge Martin kicked off the winter testing of the premier class with the same attitude as last year, finishing the first day in Sepang at the top thanks to a time of 1m57.951s.

After putting in a total of 59 laps, the 2023 runner-up welcomed the updates brought by Ducati, even though not everything was perfect. "We tried the new engine and I was happy, even if there are negative aspects - he explained - Overall, progress has been made, but we need to improve the pace and although there is more power we still need to fine-tune it".

Going into detail about the sensations he felt on the bike, the Spaniard revealed: "We haven't touched the bike itself. The set-up is the old one, although we will work on it in the next few days, as well as on other aspects. I immediately noticed that the braking was more effective, especially compared to the 2022 bike which was very complicated. However, having more horsepower is not a guarantee of performance because there may be critical issues when exiting corners. We'll see. Overall we are more competitive."

Being at the top of the timesheets doesn't seem to have interested him that much. “I was more focused on understanding which engine was better because we were focused on the new engine. The most important thing to look at is the performance, the handling, the connection with the throttle. I'm satisfied because I managed to cover a lot of kilometres. There are still some defects, but I won't go into specifics on that", he said.

Convinced that his Desmosedici has all it takes to do well and perhaps do better than the last World Championship, the 26-year-old admitted that he fears the competition. "Our rivals certainly haven't slept – was his consideration for them - Yamaha and Honda have improved a lot, especially on the straight and Marini surprised me a lot."

Finally, a comment about his no-show at the SBK tests in Portimao which also saw several MotoGP riders participate. "I found out two days before and I had arranged to go to Montmelò. It was a misunderstanding, but I will be there in 2025", he said.