Jorge Lorenzo is quietly confident of challenging for victory at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, the Spaniard stating the Red Bull Ring is a ‘theoretically’ better circuit for Ducati.
Ducati dominated proceedings at the Red Bull Ring last season – the first race at the circuit since 1997 – with Andrea Iannone leading home team-mate Andrea Dovizioso for the Italian marque’s first win since 2010.
The Austrian track’s numerous straights play directly to the strength of the brutally quick Desmosedici GP and after feeling like victory was achievable at Brno before the flag-to-flag scenario arose, Lorenzo reckons the Austrian Grand Prix has come at the right time for him.
“You never know,” the Spaniard quipped when asked by Crash.net if a Red Bull Ring win was achievable.
“On Sunday I think I had options to win the race, but I was unlucky that the conditions changed and it became a flag-to-flag, which for me is always tricky.
“If we had the race in the rain I think we had a chance to win, but obviously I would like to win also in the dry and Austria is the track theoretically better for Ducati.
“Let’s see if I am ready enough to fight for the win.
“Probably I would like to have Austria at the end of the season, because for sure I would be more prepared and more natural with the bike, but it’s okay.
“It’s better now than the first round. I think we arrive in a good point because we found something on the bike that gives me more confidence.
“I’m faster and more consistent. So Austria arrives just in time.”
Dovizioso likely to run aero fairing in Austria
Andrea Dovizioso admits he is likely to run Ducati’s radical new aerodynamic fairing at the Red Bull Ring after testing it at Brno on Monday.
Team-mate Lorenzo and Pramac’s Danilo Petrucci ran the device over the Czech Grand Prix weekend, with Lorenzo heaping it with praise for its added stability under braking and during cornering.
Dovizioso – who was third in the standings and six points adrift ahead of the Brno race – decided against running it as so to focus on race set-up, instead devoting the post-race test to evaluating the device.
The Italian – now 21 points back in third in the championship after finishing sixth last Sunday – reckons the Red Bull Ring’s numerous low gear acceleration points call for the fairing’s use, but admits it will be hard to gauge at just what circuits it will be beneficial at.
“The feedback is very clear to understand the difference for the future because this fairing is something difficult to manage,” Dovizioso told Crash.net following the Brno test.
“You have the positives and also negative. Every track is different, so it will be difficult to take a decision in every track to use it or not.
“For Austria, I believe we will use it. Still, we didn’t decide. We have to work on that. For the layout of Austria, I think we will use.”
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