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Michelin: Martin Qatar MotoGP tyre issue wasn’t a manufacturing problem

Michelin has stated its first analysis of Jorge Martin’s rear tyre from the Qatar Grand Prix, which he felt was defective, showed no manufacturing problems with the compound.

The Pramac Ducati rider struggled to a season-worst 10th in last week’s Qatar GP having battled with a lack of rear grip from the off.

After title rival Francesco Bagnaia finished second to take a 21-point lead into this weekend’s Valencia finale, Martin said Michelin had ‘stolen’ his championship with its problematic rear tyre.

On Thursday in Valencia, Martin said there had been no answers from Michelin yet over what went wrong.

But on Friday, Michelin motorsport boss Piero Taramasso said initial analysis of the tyre showed no manufacturer errors, but that further work was still needed to determine what went wrong.

“So, basically after Qatar race everybody saw Jorge’s declaration but we understand his position,” Taramasso began.

“He was fighting for a championship, a lot of adrenaline and everything. But as usual, we take very seriously this matter.

“So, what we did first thing straightaway, we called into France and checked the manufacturing process, if all the parameters when we built that tyre were OK.

“So, we have the answer. The answer was yes, everything was right in the manufacturing process. So there was no quality problem in Jorge Martin’s tyre.

Source: Autosport

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