Jerez MotoGP J.1 Jorge Lorenzo: “Ducati is coming back in my direction”

Jorge Lorenzo celebrated his 31st birthday today with a 7th place finish in the combined standings, less than half a second behind Cal Crutchlow.

After the first three disastrous races of the 2018 MotoGP season, this is a completely honorable result, capable of giving some relief to the man who stood on the podium here a year ago.

The Mallorcan driver, who was slightly handicapped by a gearbox problem, is hoping for a result that matches that of last season, in order to increase his market value during the 2019 negotiations, at a time when, little by little, places are becoming rarer!

But optimism is not far from reigning in box 99…

Jorge Lorenzo : “We tried several things on the bike, because Ducati delivered new parts and they make my life easier. They worked very well to smooth out the throttle response and power delivery mid-corner and in the acceleration phase. It's coming back in the direction I want, because we had lost something with the new bike. The new machine offers improvements in some areas, but it offers less stability and is no longer as smooth coming out of the curve. Now I'm moving in my direction again, which makes me happy. What's missing most is the ability to turn mid-corner. There are corners where I still have difficulty turning the bike and I lose a few tenths. We will work on this on Saturday. If the bike can be ridden smoother, we will get closer to the Honda riders who are currently the race favorites.
I didn't have a new rear tire in the morning. I then entered FP2 with a new tire, but the soft rear tire was not good for me, I was not significantly faster with it. I gained a second with the medium tire. It is not normal. Finally, I fitted a new rear tire and improved my time. I'm not completely satisfied because I wanted to finish the day in the top 5, but on my good lap I had a small problem with the gearbox and I wasn't able to lower my time. But the most important thing was the two new components that made my life easier. It gives me confidence.”

So what are these two mysterious elements that delight Jorge Lorenzo so much? Can he name them?

" No ".

Are they new or salvaged from 2017?

“No, they’re new.”

The Ducati rider specifies: “The new parts do not help in braking zones, but in mid-corner and traction. The bike is smoother and moves much less. This will also be important in the next races. If we further improve the second half of the curve up to the acceleration, we get closer to the best. The new asphalt is good overall, the grip is there. In some corners, however, the situation worsened and made the bike unstable. They need to work on this.

Today it finally didn't rain and I hope the weather stays good tomorrow so we can continue working like today, because I think we have a lot of room for improvement.”

Jerez MotoGP J.1 Combined Chronos:

1 35 LCR Honda CASTROL C.CRUTCHLOW GBR HONDA 1'38.614

2 26 Repsol Honda Team D.PEDROSA SPA HONDA 1'38.642 +0.028

3 5 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 J.ZARCO FRA YAMAHA 1'38.705 +0.091

4 29 Team SUZUKI ECSTAR A.IANNONE ITA SUZUKI 1'38.709 +0.095

5 93 Repsol Honda Team M.MARQUEZ SPA HONDA 1'38.863 +0.154

6 4 Ducati Team A.DOVIZIOSO ITA DUCATI 1'39.068 +0.454

7 99 Ducati Team J.LORENZO SPA DUCATI 1'39.076 +0.462

8 43 Alma Pramac Racing J.MILLER AUS DUCATI 1'39.102 +0.488

9 46 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP V.ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 1'39.248 +0.634

10 44 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing P.ESPARGARO SPA KTM 1'39.311 +0.697

11 9 Alma Pramac Racing D.PETRUCCI ITA DUCATI 1'39.429 + 0.815