The ever competitive Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo seems extremely disappointed as he only managed to finish second at his home MotoGP at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain.
Having qualified for a front row start in second after looking strong all weekend, the Spaniard could do no better in front of his home crowd. He had to follow his teammate lap after lap around the circuit, only coming close at one point, before watching him extend his lead knowing he could not catch him.
Entering parc ferme, he dismounted his M1 machine and straight away looked at his rear tyre. He threw his hands up as a result of seeing the Michelin rear in its post-race state. He blamed the rear tyre for his result.
“The pace from the beginning was not very fast, but you know, Rossi was faster than me at the beginning of the race. In the middle I could keep the distance, I was catching him, then suddenly the centre of the tyre on the straight when I changed gear was spinning like I had a wet tyre and I have to be in the middle of the straights. I did not press enough throttle and so I lose a lot.”
Lorenzo feels that because of this he was unable to chase his teammate for the win. He was also relieved that Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez, who finished in third, was so far behind as it levitated some of the pressure from him.
“It is a pity with this because after this position I was very strong and I could probably win the race with quite a big margin but with this problem of the spinning I could not do more and I have to slow down and finish the race.”
“Having problems with spinning when you are completely straight in third, fourth, fifth, sixth gear, has never happened to me and I was, to be honest, a little bit scared because the spinning increased every lap. So in the last laps I gave 70-80% throttle on the straight because I was scared that something had gone wrong. It was a very uncomfortable situation.”
Lorenzo is hoping that since the front end issues with Michelin have been resolved that hopefully it will not be long until there is a solution for the troubles with the rear.
“Michelin works a lot on the front and has improved the front, but after the problems of Baz and Redding and this change of compound of the tyre, now the problem has went to the rear tyre. Obviously I am going to have to use this experience to improve the rear tyre and make our life easier.”
Lorenzo is in second in the championship with sixty-five points; he is seventeen behind championship leader Marc Marquez.
