Ducati Corse’s Jorge Lorenzo admitted after the first day of pre-season test in Malaysia that he didn’t expect to struggle on the Desmosedici GP17 as much as he did.
The triple MotoGP world champion makes the switch to the Bologna-based manufacturer in 2017 after nine years with Yamaha. Lorenzo had his first taste of the Desmosedici in Valencia at the end of November, where he went third and eighth quickest on both days of the test.
Having been forbidden by Yamaha to participate in any private running with the team following the Valencia test, today’s session marked the Spaniard’s first laps on the bike in over two months.
As such, today was just about getting reacquainted with the Ducati and finding a comfortable riding position. However, Lorenzo was taken by surprise at just how far off the pace he was and how different the bike felt underneath him at Sepang compared to Valencia.
“(I was) not disappointed, but surprised because I expected I’d be more or less the same as Valencia, not very far,” he said to motorsport news website Autosport.com.
Lorenzo completed 48 laps of the Sepang International Circuit, setting a best time of 2m01.350s, putting him 1.6s off of the pace set by the team’s test rider Casey Stoner.
He attributes his woes to the difference in braking styles required between the Desmosedici GP17 and the YZR-M1 Yamaha, admitting that he is getting on the anchors too early. With the Ricardo Tormo Circuit light on hard stops, this problem never reared its head last November.
“At Valencia everything was easier, because I rode more or less the way that I’ve ridden for the past nine years and the times were there,” he explained.
“Here, however, riding the same way it was much harder to go quick, so I’m understanding that it’s a bike that requires a pretty different riding style than what I’m used to. I’m used to braking a lot earlier and I’m losing a lot under braking.
“This bike is basically ridden the opposite way, so until I learn how to extract the best from the bike it will be hard to be among the quickest.”
Though having to adapt a riding style that has been second nature to him for the past nine years, Lorenzo isn’t hitting the panic button just yet as the pace of his two factory team-mates, as well as that of Aspar’s Alvaro Bautista on the GP16, is proof enough that the Desmosedici is brimming with potential.
“The important thing is that the other Ducati bikes were very quick, and this means that the bike has a lot of potential.”
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