Lorenzo dismisses mismatch talk

Jorge Lorenzo has brushed off claims he may struggle to adapt to the Repsol Honda next season following the shock announcement that he is to team up with Marc Marquez from 2019.

Lorenzo will leave Ducati at the end of the season but the three-time MotoGP world champion has no doubt that he will be able to master the RCV, which many observers feel will be a mismatch for his smooth and flowing riding style.

Speaking at the pre-race press conference at Catalunya, Lorenzo said: “Everybody is looking at me from when I entered racing when I was 16. They know how fast I can be with any type of motorcycle and I won with Derbi, with Honda one year in 250 I got some pole positions and some second places; in Aprilia I won races and in Yamaha I won races and championships, so sooner or later I have this capacity to go fast with a motorcycle.

“I know what I am able to do with a bike and for sure it will be a difficult challenge but it will be the future, I am a person of the present and I don’t look so far to the future. Now, I still have a lot of things to do with Ducati and like everybody knows, like I did with Yamaha until the last race I tried to win and I will do the same with Ducati – I will try to get the best for the team.”

Lorenzo’s Honda move caught the MotoGP paddock by surprise but the Spaniard said keeping the deal under wraps had been ‘easy’.

“We just didn’t say to anybody, it is easy. My goal and my first priority was to stay in Ducati and finish what I did, but it was in Le Mans when I realised that Ducati wanted to swap me or to plan for another rider and then we started to plan another way for my future,” Lorenzo said.

“But until Le Mans I wanted to win races with Ducati and if it is possible, the championship. I won a race, the championship is not impossible, but next year I will be competing with another manufacturer.”

Lorenzo is fresh from his maiden win on the Ducati at Mugello in Italy last time out and is confident Catalunya offers another solid opportunity to battle at the front this weekend.

“We are living a sweet moment with Ducati and we work a lot to try to improve the bike every month and now it looks a good package for all the Ducati riders,” he said.

“In our side, I think we are able to keep a constant pace to the end, to save energy, and we arrive to a good track after a good test, so it looks like a good weekend for us.”