Mandalika MotoGP track gravel “like knives”, says Pramac’s Jorge Martin

The one-time MotoGP race winner was one of several riders to crash heavily on Saturday’s second day of testing in Indonesia, with RNF Racing’s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech3 rookie Raul Fernandez also having big offs.

Martin, who was ninth fastest on Saturday, crashed in the afternoon at Turn 15 having strayed slightly off-line onto the incredibly dirty part of the track and fell.

But the Spaniard noted that the gravel at Mandalika is “so painful” and needs to be addressed before the Indonesia Grand Prix in March.

“Yeah, same as usual,” Martin began as he explained his crash.

“I was a bit wide on corner 10, so right corner, so when I arrived at corner 15 I had a huge crash, really fast.

“It’s dangerous, but it is what it is and tomorrow we keep pushing. For us, we can ride, we need to be very careful with the lines, being so smooth, trying not to go out of the line.

“So, if you make a small mistake you can have a really big crash.

“Also, another point, the gravel is really strange and it’s so painful.

“I don’t know why, I’m still in pain from the crash – I just lost the front – because this gravel is so hard.

“Normally it’s like small pebbles, but here it’s like knives. They need to take a look.”

Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The state of the track surface has been criticised this weekend due to an excess of dirt, which forced Friday’s running to be halted for over an hour before riders were sent out to clean the circuit – something Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli branded as a “fucking dangerous” exercise.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who also had a tumble on Saturday - was also critical of this, and feels the track “is not ready to race” on despite it being successfully used for