Jorge Martinez confirms MotoGP move delay

As was exclusively revealed by MCN yesterday, Jorge Martinez has confirmed he has failed to successfully conclude lengthy negotiations with Kawasaki for a 2009 MotoGP deal.

Kawasaki boss Michael Bartholemy yesterday revealed a deal to lease a third factory ZX-RR to Martinez had collapsed, and today the Spaniard said: “Unfortunately it is over. I am very sad about this situation.”

Kawasaki was only willing to strike a deal with the Aprilia 125 and 250 team boss if Shinya Nakano was the rider. Martinez’s Spanish backers though were reluctant to invest the same amount of money into a deal without a Spanish rider on the third ZX-RR.

And Martinez added: “We couldn’t reach an agreement with the conditions in place, so we have reluctantly decided to move on.”

Martinez, who had previously held lengthy talks with Suzuki and Ducati, will now focus on a lease deal for the 2010 MotoGP world championship.