Jorge Martínez ‘Aspar’ is not present at the Thai GP, but he is aware of everything when it happens. Thus, once the statements of Sergio García, one of his riders in the Gaviota Aspar Team, who is second overall in Moto3, 45 points behind Izan Guevara, his other rider, were known, he wanted to give his point of view to through phone call with AS and EFE. “There has not been the best relationship with my technician and my mechanics,” said the man from Castellón, something with which his boss does not agree.
-What would you like to say about Sergio García’s statements?
-What I want is for there to be as much peace of mind as possible within the team and with the current situation. About the statements made by Sergio, I do not think the same as him. We have always been very transparent in the team, with the telemetry, with the technical team and with absolutely everything and, therefore, the only thing I want is tranquility within the team for the remaining GGPP.
Are you surprised that he said that?
-Yes, obviously. It surprised me, because at the Aragón GP I told both Sergio and his father that the fact that next year he will be in another team does not mean that we will continue giving everything so that the best on the track wins . In this championship model, with so much equality of material, with the engines sealed, with the same tires for everyone and with the telemetry completely open within the team, what we want is for the best on the track to win. The material is one hundred percent the same for everyone.
-Sergio also gave importance to the personal relationship with his technical team. How was the relationship?
-There is one thing that may have bothered him more. Last year he already wanted to go up to Moto2 and with us it was impossible and, for next year, the rider who comes with us from the base is Izan. He has been champion of Europe, of the junior world and has a contract with us for Moto2. Perhaps Sergio felt bad that we didn’t give him the option of going to Moto2 with us, but the technical and human treatment of us is being exactly the same, both mine and that of Gino Borsoi and the technical team. What we are trying to give is one hundred percent to our drivers.
-This does not tarnish in any case the year of the team. Of the best?
-Definitely. This season recalls the best historical ones of the Aspar Team, from the years 2009, 2011, 2014 of Moto2, with Terol, Bautista, Faubel and with all those who passed through the box those years. This year is a brutal year and hopefully this weekend we can already be team champions. And I repeat, what we seek and want is for our riders to have open telemetry so that they can see where they can improve at all times. And if a driver wants to test another driver’s set-up, he can do it, because he has the information. We are having an impressive season and I am very happy with all the work that the team is doing, and with the drivers. Sergio, unfortunately, had the bad luck of the fall of England, where he was shot, or the fall of Italy. There have been some races where luck has not been on his side, but even so he is having the best season of his life.
– Do you think it has been spite more than anything else that has led Sergio to make those statements?
-He is very young, he sees himself fighting for the World Championship and he has a rider by his side who is surprising us all in some way, because Izan has an incredible naturalness and perhaps that is what has also surprised him. He now also has his future settled in Moto2, with the Sito Pons team, and I hope that this gives him more peace of mind and that this weekend and the rest, because there are no less than 100 points at stake, let’s see Segio de beginning of season. That is what I wish.
-What can you say about Guevara?
-We bet on him from the first moment when we signed him. In the Junior World Cup he already did incredible things. He is a pilot that not even he knows the potential that he has. He sometimes surprises us by doing incredible things, and naturally, and with practically no set-up experience on many circuits and the World Championship. Of him I highlight the way of piloting him so different. He is the only rider who is making a difference in Moto3, in practice and in the race, with incredible pace. In the Aragón GP he lapped 21 seconds faster than last year and that shows the great superiority that he is demonstrating.
-Who does it remind you of?
-The type of line he does is very similar to the one Jorge Lorenzo used to do. It’s a very different way of riding. There are riders who are very braking and close the curve, and he is the opposite, like Lorenzo, who was also very easy on the curve, and also with an incredible naturalness. I would say that in the way he drives he is quite similar to Lorenzo.
-Almost nothing. We already signed his five titles…
I’m sure he would sign them too. Jorge has been one of the greatest. I hope and wish that he continues to grow as a rider and as a person, and that he gives priority to things as they should be given to him.
