Today, grip conditions deteriorated on the Losail circuit, largely due to the humidity brought by a few drops of rain at the start of the day and lower temperatures than yesterday.
Despite this, and despite a small, inconsequential fall that occurred to Jorge Lorenzo this morning, he improved his best time by 3 tenths. Combined with the fact that the Mallorcan driver did not use a soft tire to achieve this, optimism remains in box number 99 which tomorrow will focus on a race simulation and testing of the new fairing.
Jorge Lorenzo: “It's not very easy to draw conclusions from today, partly because I was one of the few riders not to use the soft tire, which probably would have allowed me to achieve a significant improvement in my time. Anyway, a positive element of this session is that I improved my best time by 3/10 compared to yesterday.
Regarding the settings, we didn't try anything significant today, but we have a few things left that we plan to try tomorrow. Overall, I am quite satisfied with the small progress we are making every day, and tomorrow we will try to get the most out of the soft tires to improve our times. “
Speaking at Ducati Hospitality to the press, Jorge Lorenzo was a little more explicit: » yesterday I led for the first time with the Ducati, and today I crashed for the first time (laughs).
Today I worked on a different setting to improve corner entries. Furthermore, with Márquez, I was the only one who did not attack with a soft tire, which would have helped a lot to lower the times in these conditions, so I still have something left for tomorrow. Chronos aside, the day was positive. I am better than on other routes.
We decided to test the new fairing only tomorrow so that we can stay focused on the adjustments today. I'll probably do a simulated race. This will be very important for understanding tires. “
Asked about the Ducati as winter testing nears its conclusion, the Borgo Panigale rider admitted to being more surprised than he expected: "I was expecting a very powerful bike and it's what I found. I was expecting a different bike and it is much more different than I thought it would be. But I'm improving every day in one way or another. Today I improved the braking phase, although not as much as I would have liked. It's hard work, but it will pay off in the future. “
Chronos Qatar J2:
1. Maverick Vinales, Yamaha, 1:54,455
2. Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, 1:54,732
3. Jonas Folger, Yamaha, 1:54,917
4. Cal Crutchlow, Honda, 1:55,032
5. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:55,121
6. Marc Marquez, Honda, 1:55,196
7. Alvaro Bautista, Ducati, 1:55,245
8. Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati, 1:55,344
9. Scott Redding, Ducati, 1:55,353
10. Johann Zarco, Yamaha, 1:55,354
11. Karel Abraham, Ducati, 1:55,420
12. Andrea Iannone, Suzuki, 1:55,545
13. Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati, 1:55,583
14. Danilo Petrucci, Ducati, 1:56,680
15. Loris Baz, Ducati, 1:55,808
16. Dani Pedrosa, Honda, 1:55,875
17. Alex Rins, Suzuki, 1:56,110
18. Tito Rabat, Honda, 1:56,214
19. Jack Miller, Honda, 1:56,251
20. Sam Lowes, Aprilia, 1:57,276
21. Pol Espargaro, KTM, 1:57,648
22. Bradley Smith, KTM, 1:57,267
23. Mika Kallio, KTM, 1:57,688
Learn more at https://www.paddock-gp.com/motogp-tests-qatar-j2-rossi-blesse-soulage/#vp3zgWulq8I4phG7.99
