That the image is both symbolic and sad: Jorge Lorenzo, the pole sitter of the last edition of the Aragón Grand Prix, spent almost the entirety of the first two MotoGP free practice sessions in last position...
This is the sad outcome of a more than laborious adaptation to the Honda and a physical condition far from being at its best level.
FP1 was very difficult for the driver from Mallorca since he finished it more than four seconds behind his teammate, in last position. In the afternoon, the gap was reduced further but it was not until the final minutes that the Honda driver abandoned the red lantern in favor of a 17th place before falling back three positions in the final seconds.
In the combined ranking, Jorge Lorenzo is therefore in 20th position, 2,8 seconds behind his speedy teammate Marc Márquez.
The only consolation is that he turns out to be the fastest driver in a straight line, reaching 334,4 km/h on his Honda RC213V.
Officially, Jorge Lorenzo suffers from a lack of feeling: “We struggled with feeling today and I was hoping to be more competitive after our best start at Misano. During the afternoon I was able to improve a little, but I'm still looking to close the gap. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to rain tomorrow which will make things a little more difficult for us as we'll have less time to tune up the bike, but I'll be able to race a bit in the wet. »
Less officially, the five-time world champion, who has just gone a full year without getting on the podium or even obtaining a top 10, explains: “It’s been a year since what happened. It all started here, then in Thailand, in pre-season with the scaphoid, and in Assen. There were four very important injuries, and although the last one was the worst, the others were also difficult and conditioned the results. The situation is grim, something that cannot be denied. Before the injury, I wasn't 100%, but since then, it's much more complicated. It's the slowest injury of my career. I'm gradually improving but it doesn't help having to run every week. I still haven't had time to recover, I'm not what I used to be. I no longer have the back I had, neither in terms of bones nor muscles. It still hurts depending on the position and, with the pain, you can't fight. After this Grand Prix, I'm going to go back to weights, because until now I haven't even been able to touch them, and I'm going to try to gain muscle mass. I want to have the energy to be able to endure a whole race. »
Paradoxically in view of this rather gloomy state of affairs, when asked about its future by Canal+ Jorge Lorenzo simply responds with: " GOOD ! »
FP2 classification of the MotoGP Aragón Grand Prix:
Combined FP1/FP2 classification of the MotoGP Aragón Grand Prix:
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
