Arriving in Texas with measured objectives due to his past results on the Circuit of the Americas (3rd in 2013, 10th in 2014 and 4th last year), Jorge Lorenzo leaves rather satisfied.
Indeed, even if he was never able to follow the pace imposed by Marc Marquez, the mishaps suffered by Rossi, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Crutchlow, Smith and Baz, allow him to appreciate these 20 very welcome points after his fall in Argentina.
The Mallorcan driver is therefore calmly awaiting the next stage at Jerez, a circuit that he particularly likes.
We offer you here a translation of his entire remarks.
Jorge, taking 20 points here before arriving in Jerez is pretty good…
" Yes. You know, I'm very happy to have finished the race because today the conditions were very complicated. After my crash during the warm up, it was very difficult to convince myself that I could be competitive enough to challenge for the podium, but I did a good job of thinking positively, trying to be confident and getting going. in a good way.
The problem was that I couldn't brake the bike. I made a few mistakes, in the first corner and in a hairpin, trying to go first. Yes, I was hoping to be faster, but it was impossible today. Each time I was slower and slower, so today was not a race where I was fighting for victory. I knew it since the 7th or 8th round. So I just needed to finish the race and take those points. A few drivers who are also fighting for the championship have crashed, so we will probably see more mistakes than in the last 4 or 5 years. We crashed in Argentina, and the important thing now is not to crash further, and to try to reduce the gap to Marc in the next races. »
During the first lap, you had problems at turn #1 and #11…
" Yes yes. You know, I had a lot of confidence on the brakes all weekend, but today, with the hardest rear tire and with a full tank of gas, I don't know what was happening, but I couldn't brake the same way. Very bad. Always understeering and widening... It happens sometimes. In Qatar I was faster than I expected, and I set the lap record there, but here it was the opposite; I was much slower than I expected. But everyone has had problems so far. Today, as he has done for 4 years, Marc made a difference on the track and we could not stay with him. »
Do you expect more competitive races in Europe?
“Yes, it's very important to be in second position at the moment, when Rossi, Dovizioso and Pedrosa fell. Because we now have a goal, which is Marc, in mind. Last year, we left here with a handicap of 29 points, while today it is 21. We have the feeling that we could perhaps make the difference in Europe with the Michelins and this electronic. We will see if this theory corresponds to reality. »
You were quite critical of Michelin after the first two races. What about today?
“We were a little worried about how the tires that Michelin brought here were going to perform compared to the others, and we saw that they maybe took more time to warm up, but then they weren't so different. But of course, we still don't know the reasons why, at Sepang and in Argentina, it was non-official Ducatis who had these problems. But of course, if Michelin thinks that everyone is safer with these tires, we have to accept it and try to work with these tires. We saw a lot of falls from the front. Of course, Michelin is improving the front more and more, but we still don't have the same confidence as in recent years. Sometimes we lost the front, but we were able to avoid the fall. Now, if you lose the front, there is a much greater chance that you will fall and not get back on track. So this is the next point to improve. »
We saw a lot of falls from the front today. Can you find the limit and stay below it?
“It seems like with this front tire the performance zone is very narrow. For example, if your tank is empty, maybe the tire performs well, but with a full tank it understeers. Temperature also plays a role, as does the rear tire; with a soft rear, the front understeers less, but when you put it on hard, you no longer have grip on any tire. So you have to understand the conditions you have and you have to control all the details, whereas with the Bridgestones you didn't need to because the performance zone of the front tire was wider. »
The Moto2 riders said the track was very slippery. Was it different from yesterday?
“Yes, I think it was a combination of things; the track was more slippery but, for example, you also had to change trajectory on the straight because of the oil deposited by a broken engine in Superbike. So overall more slippery, but not only that. It was difficult to brake the bike with the 22 or 20 liter tank full, and the hard rear tire didn't help the front tire either, nor in having good grip when accelerating or braking in a straight line. »
Marc being very strong here, did you come only thinking about scoring big points?
“What was a shame was Argentina. Because, partly because of the front Michelin tire, partly because of the traces of humidity, I did not have enough patience to stay calm and to understand, like today, that I could not win. It is likely that with more patience, I could have finished 3rd after the crashes of Maverick and the two Ducatis, like Pedrosa did. But I was not patient, perhaps because of past conditions, when I never fell. I thought it was the same, but I just need to be a little more careful to stay on the bike.
I regret that a little, but it's the past and I can't change it. And as we saw today, we can see more crashes for all riders, so now I crashed and I will try not to do it again. I'm sure there will be tracks where I feel strong enough to win. There it will be my time. But I can be very happy today because it is my best result in Austin. It's good that we are only 21 points behind even though we crashed, because we are now arriving on tracks that normally suit me and the bike better. »
2016 World Championship Ranking
| Pos | Pile | Motorcycle | Country | Points |
| 1 | Marc Márquez | Honda | SPA | 66 |
| 2 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | SPA | 45 |
| 3 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | ITA | 33 |
| 4 | Pol Espargaró | Yamaha | SPA | 28 |
| 5 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | SPA | 27 |
| 6 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | SPA | 25 |
| 7 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | ITA | 23 |
| 8 | Maverick VIÑALES | Suzuki | SPA | 23 |
| 9 | Eugene LAVERTY | Ducati | IRL | 21 |
| 10 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | SPA | 21 |
| 11 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | ITA | 16 |
| 12 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | GBR | 16 |
| 13 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | GBR | 16 |
| 14 | Stefan BRADL | Aprilia | GER | 15 |
| 15 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia | SPA | 14 |
| 16 | Michael PIRRO | Ducati | ITA | 12 |
| 17 | Tito RABAT | Honda | SPA | 11 |
| 18 | Jack Miller | Honda | AUS | 2 |
| 19 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | COL | 2 |
| 20 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | FRA | 1 |
| 21 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | GBR | 0 |
