Lorenzo’s studying curve tougher than Honda anticipated

Lorenzo completed down in 13th on his first outing as a Repsol Honda in Qatar final month, and adopted that up with 12th place in final weekend's Termas de Rio Hondo race. The Spaniard remains to be affected by the after-effects of accidents sustained in Qatar and admitted that he would not be risking a crash in Argentina with a purpose to keep wholesome for upcoming races. Lorenzo's sluggish begin to the 12 months mirrors his two campaigns with Ducati, though his present tally of seven factors is greater than he scored on the similar stage within the season in each 2017 and '18. Speaking in a press convention organised by sponsor Estrella Galicia in Sao Paulo, Argentina

Lorenzo engaged pit limiter at begin of Argentina race

After qualifying in 12th for his second race as a Honda rider, Lorenzo plummeted to 21st on the opening lap at Termas de Rio Hondo. He finally fought again to complete in 12th place, albeit gaining two locations on the final lap when Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli got here to blows and crashed out. As properly as revealing the trigger for his sluggish getaway, Lorenzo stated he was additional hampered by a disintegrating rubber grip on his left handlebar throughout what he described as a "nightmare" race. "Here with the pit limiter, that looks like I pressed it unconsciously because I remember just pressing the start procedure button," Lorenzo recalled. "Suddenly the bike, the rpm goes down

Lorenzo: aero or no aero is the question in Qatar

"I’m quite happy about today because we improved the pace and with the soft tyre it was one of the best," begins the Mallorcan. "In the end, we missed the chance to make one fast lap because we didn’t put a new tyre on the front like some, so we have this card to play tomorrow. I’m more satisified than in the test for sure. For now, with this bike, it looks like the fairing with 'winglets' gives me problems in the corners so I prefer to not use it. So, for now I will continue to use the normal one." Source link

Lorenzo on life in red: “I’m still far from my limit”

“A world title for Ducati is something very special,” says the Majorcan, “And I want this to happen. Obviously, if I can, on my side. But if I can’t, it’s good that Dovi does it.” And Lorenzo says that yes, rivalry in the box is always important – but that his focus is on the best for Ducati: “He is my teammate, he is the first one that you have to beat or you want to beat because he has the same bike as you, but also we are in a team. Okay, it’s an individual sport but finally you want the best for Ducati.” Source link

Ducati launch: Lorenzo and Dovizioso’s Desmosedici

“When you’ve been lucky enough to be World Champion, the only thing you want is to repeat that. If we are strong in general, I think we’ll be able to get onto the podium. I’m so proud I now belong to this family. I want to thank all of you, not just for what you’ve shown me yesterday…also everything you’re writing on social media, for example. It gives me so much energy to try and make this team stronger. As a racer and rider I’m sure there will be incredible emotion still to come.” Source link

Valencia: Curtain call

The end of a MotoGP™ era in a lot of ways, the number 99 set a record-breaking pole on Saturday to give many a clue as to his intentions come race day – setting the first ever 1:29 lap of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and whittling that down to a 29.6 by the end of the session. Then, it was a Lorenzo classic as the 2010, 2012 and 2015 MotoGP™ World Champion took off in the lead and put in a masterclass of control and pace to seal his final win in blue – although Marc Marquez was catching fast in the latter stages. Source link

Motegi: Marquez' miracle weekend

In seven years as teammates at Yamaha, Rossi and Lorenzo had never both crashed out. That was until the 2016 Japanese GP. The Italian, falling first, saw the weight of the title defense then fall solely to Lorenzo as Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso started to slowly reel the ‘Spartan’ in and the laps ticked on. Then, without warning, the number 99 followed his teammate into the gravel – and the title was Marquez’ to lose. He didn’t. Source link