Lorenzo-Ducati combination ‘stronger than ‘17’

Four races into the year and Jorge Lorenzo appears to have reached a breakthrough, stating he is more comfortable on Ducati’s GP18 than he was at any point last year, with the evolution chassis he is using this weekend providing “something more” to his feeling.

The Majorcan was surprised to miss out on a front row start for the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, after lapping the 2.6-mile Bugatti track 0.4s under the previous outright lap record. A final time of 1m 31.590s should have been enough to secure a spot in the top three, he thought.

The afternoon’s Q2 shootout was incredibly competitive, however, and Lorenzo could only manage sixth place. But the five-time world champion “feels strong” around a track at which he has won on six occasions through his 16-year grand prix career.

And he considers his current package to be stronger than the one that carried him to two podium finishes a year ago. Lorenzo, it seems, now has a package capable of regularly challenging toward the front of races.

“Today has been a good day,” began Lorenzo, who finished 0.4s off Johann Zarco’s pole time. “We keep more or less the same performance that we showed in Jerez. We worked a lot on set-up and found a better set-up than yesterday plus the new chassis probably gives us something more. It’s not a big step, but something more.

“Everyone has been extremely fast, especially in the qualifying. When I did a 1m 31.5s I expected to be on the first row but I was not. I was a little bit disappointed in that way but it could be worse. I could be on the third row. It’s not a bad position for tomorrow.

“It’s going to be a long race. I feel strong. In general I feel strong with the bike with a good pace. Physically I’m good. I understand more the bike and the bike looks more stable, similar to the one from last year but we have some more turning in the corners. We have to see.”

Does he feel stronger than his time toward the end of last year? “I feel in general stronger but the problem is that the Hondas improve so much the performance. So in general we have three Hondas that are really fast and the podium is more difficult to get. But the combination with the bike – Lorenzo, Ducati or Dovizioso, Ducati – I think is stronger than last year.”

On tyre choice, he added, “As in Jerez I can be competitive with both tyres, but probably with my feeling in the middle of the corner at maximum angle is better with the soft, probably I will go for that. Even Marquez, that normally goes with the hardest option sometimes, he goes with the soft one.

“So it means probably this track is even less with the soft tyre on the front. I don’t think I will be the only one using this combination. But it doesn’t change so much for me. I can also be competitive with the medium front.”

With team-mate Andrea Dovizioso confirming a contract extension until 2019, Lorenzo is one of the next pieces to fall into place. A stay at Ducati remains a possibility, while his name has also been linked with Suzuki.

Asked what it would take to come to an agreement with the Bologna factory, Lorenzo said, “Both sides. Both sides are important. The confidence that one side has in the other will probably be a big thing.

“As I said on Thursday everything in life you see with a different colour with a good result, a podium, a victory. If this happens for both sides it will be better to continue so we need to continue.”