Jorge Lorenzo has branded his Dutch TT qualifying a ‘disaster’, after the the Spaniard struggled to find grip at a wet Assen and could only manage a career-worst 21st.
Lorenzo did not enjoy a positive start to his Assen weekend, the Ducati rider failing to make the top 10 cut and bag a place in Q2 after struggling to find an optimal set-up for his Desmosedici on Friday.
Showing unusually strong form at a damp Assen in third practice, however, Lorenzo came into qualifying in genuine contention for a place inside Q2.
However, a heavy downpour during final practice saturated the Dutch circuit and Lorenzo could find no grip from his soft Michelin wet rear tyre. Had it not been for this, Lorenzo believes he could have qualified inside the top five.
“Without a doubt, if we look at the results, it was a disaster,” Lorenzo said of the lowest-ever qualifying result of his premier class career to Autosport.com.
“At the right moment, at the important point, is when I felt worst. It started to rain very heavily in Q1.
“There was no grip, it felt like and ice rink and the rear tyre was very hard. If I could have got to Q2, with less water, it would have gone better.
“With less water I would have been in the top five.”
Only the injured Bradley Smith on the KTM and Marc VDS’ Tito Rabat, who typically struggles in the wet at Assen, were slower than Lorenzo, who was over two seconds off of eventual pole man Johann Zarco.
Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso found the going equally tough on the sister factory GP17, and was left at a loss as to why the usually competitive-in-the-wet Ducati did not perform as expected.
The Italian’s session was hindered by a small tumble at Turn 8 just a few minutes into Q2, but was able to get back out on his second bike to go ninth quickest with a 1m48.079s – a time only 0.14s faster than team-mate Lorenzo’s in the end.
“For some reason, today we weren’t able to find the feeling we normally have with the Desmosedici in wet conditions,” Dovizioso said.
“Then in qualifying I made a mistake and crashed, and this obviously conditioned my position.
“The team, however, were great in getting the other bike ready for me, and I was able to do two laps with this and improved my grid position a bit.
“Tomorrow it’ll be important to make the best of the warm-up in order to try and improve the bike set-up, but in any case I think we can do a good race.”
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