One of the most remarkable moments of the 2023 MotoGP season took place at Losail, with Jorge Martin as the protagonist. The spaniard got off to a terrible start in the long race and even spoke of sabotage to his tyre, which virtually ended his title aspirations and now, weeks later, Michelin reaffirms that there was nothing wrong with the tyre used by the Pramac rider.
Pierro Taramasso, Michelin’s face in MotoGP, recalled the episode and the controversy brought to light by the rider in words to Australian Motorcycle News: ‘After the Qatar race, everyone saw Jorge’s statements, but we understood his position. He was fighting for a championship, with a lot of adrenaline and all that. But, as always, we take this matter very seriously’.
So, with a desire to defend himself and make it clear that tyres are the same for everyone, Taramasso set about investigating what had happened and guarantees that nothing unusual had happened: ‘The first thing we did was call France and check the manufacturing process, that all the tyre construction parameters were correct. We got the answer. The answer was yes, everything was fine in the manufacturing process’ he said, before concluding and closing the matter:
– So there was no quality problem with Jorge Martin’s tyre.