Pramac boss says soft tyre gamble for Martin “was our decision”

Martin was one of three riders to use the soft rear tyre, and although he managed it near perfection, the Pramac rider ran out of grip with two laps remaining.

Slowly being caught with five laps to go, it wasn’t until the penultimate lap that Martin was losing huge amounts of time with every passing sector.

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Martin was then overtaken by team-mate Johann Zarco at the start of lap 27, which began a slide down to fifth.

But speaking after the race, Martin’s team manager Borsoi defended his rider and more importantly the tyre choice. 

“I’m fully in support of my rider,” said Borsoi. “It was our decision. We will never give up and we have a lot of races in front of us. 

“He showed incredible speed all weekend and he is the best rider on track. He lost the race with only one lap to go. He made incredible qualifying and tomorrow is another day. 

“Then we have eight races in front of us.”

With two laps to go it appeared as though Zarco would be able to help Martin stay out front after overtaking Brad Binder. 

But even with the overtake, Zarco continued to gain on Martin before having no choice but to pass his team-mate to avoid being attacked himself.

It was clear that without the grip woes Martin would likely have won the race, but nonetheless, Borsoi continued to back the tyre decision.

“It was not a huge gamble. It was our decision and the decision of the team. It is what it is. We will see in the next race.”