Distraction from Dash message led to mistake in Misano sprint

Pramac MotoGP rider Jorge Martin says the mistake that cost him victory in the sprint race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was caused by him being distracted by a message on his dashboard.

Championship leader Martin had taken the lead straight from the start with a great start from second position, overtaking the factory Ducati of polesitter and title rival Francesco Bagnaia.

Despite Bagnaia keeping an eye on him halfway through the race, Martin did just enough to hold his position as the two riders were within half a second of each other.

However, on the eighth lap of the thirteenth round, Martin went too far at Turn 13, allowing Bagnaia to pass him and take an important victory over him in a head-to-head duel.

Martin said after the sprint that he briefly lost his concentration when he got a warning message about exceeding the track limits, which caused him to make the mistake that would determine the outcome of the sprint.

“I made a small mistake for which I paid dearly, because I lost my concentration a little bit,” he summed up.

“I just got a track limits warning in a bad spot. I started looking at the dash in a bad spot and I missed the line by two meters and then I let Pecco pass.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Up until that point I think I was in a really good position. Even when he was close I had everything under control and had a really good pace.”

MotoGP plans to phase in Formula 1-style radio announcements. From 2025, race management will only be allowed to provide one-way communication to the drivers.

Martin said it was important that MotoGP stakeholders engage with race management to ensure that messages, whether via radio or dashboard, are not relayed to riders when they are concentrating on cornering.

“I haven’t tried the radio messages, but if we have the radio, maybe we can understand with the team where they can talk to you.

“Because I don’t know when the race control sends these (text) messages, but definitely when it’s in the middle of a corner. Sometimes there are a lot of colors (on the dashboard) and this is not yellow. So I had a quick look at it, but I missed my line.

“So we need to talk to race control to create a place on the circuit where we can send these messages, because otherwise it could become a big problem.”

Bagnaia’s sprint win means he is now four points behind Martin. If the duo finishes in the same position on Sunday, the Italian could retake the lead.

However, Martin was confident he would win the long-distance race, buoyed by the pace he showed in the final stages of the sprint behind Bagnaia.

“When he passed me I thought I would lose a second, but then I saw that I could close the gap.

“I think I can even attack him with two or three laps. So I’m confident that tomorrow, even if he passes me, I can fight back.

“On other tracks I had a lot of trouble following him, but here I feel like I can follow him quite close and it’s not a big problem for the leading group.

He added: “With the medium (tyre) I feel much better for the balance of my bike. I saw that Pecco with the soft (in sprint) was stronger than me, so it was already difficult to beat him.

“But for tomorrow I have a bit more confidence (when everyone is on medium tyres). I will definitely try to focus on myself, not to look too much at the dashboard or the pit board, just try to follow, because if I give 100% it will be difficult for them to reach this high pace.”