Lorenzo: Tyre misunderstanding hindered pole fight

Jorge Lorenzo hinted an internal misunderstanding was behind the decision to run the same front tyre throughout all of MotoGP qualifying at Austria, something he feels may have prevented him from taking the pole position fight to Marc Marquez.

Lorenzo qualified third on Saturday afternoon, his quickest lap of 1m 23.376s just 0.135s of championship leader Marquez, and 0.133s of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. But the tyre strategy was “misunderstood” on his side of the Ducati box, he revealed, with the Majorcan believing he could have gone even quicker.

“We all knew that the three of us would be close to fight for the pole position, and it was like that. We are just one tenth from them. As you said, probably at the end we have enough time to put a new soft tyre that I always prefer to be a little bit faster.

“But [there] was a little bit misunderstood in the garage and we didn’t put it. Probably this [prevented] us to fight a little bit more for the pole. Anyway, the important thing is to be in the first row to have a good start tomorrow, to have a good pace.

“We have maybe not as much we wanted of [track] time, but plenty of time to understand a little bit the tires, the setting, and the pace. So I think we are ready to fight till the end like in Brno.”

On whether he would opt for a similar strategy to last weekend at Brno, whereby he bided his time for two third’s of the race before launching a tough final attack, he said, “Well, last time was not so bad, the last strategy in Brno.

"It depends. I will study a little bit this afternoon and after the warmup. Let’s decide the best one for me.”

On Friday the 31-year old admitted he was lacking confidence in the 2.8-mile circuit’s third sector. He didn’t have the confidence to pitch into turns six and seven as he pleased, but feels some studying on Saturday evening should aid his cause.

“In FP4 I improve a little bit in that sector, but unfortunately there still missing something. I don’t think it’s about the setting or the bike, it’s more about my riding style.

“I’m going to try to study a little bit with the video and see if I can do something for tomorrow. In the warm-up we are going to try something that can improve a little bit the braking so hopefully we can find some more tenths.”

On the two chassis that are available to him and Dovizioso, he added, “I think we swapped. Now I’m using the one from Dovi, and he’s using the one from me in Brno. As he said, difference is very small and also the feeling.

"Not so much difference, but we prefer to concentrate in same chassis in both track, at least at this track. Let’s see in the next ones.”