Lorenzo: We’re one of favourites for victory

Jorge Lorenzo believes he should be considered among the favourites to collect the 25 points for a MotoGP race win on Sunday, after the Majorcan placed second overall in Friday’s free practice sessions at Misano.

The 31-year old carried on from where he left off at a private test here three weeks ago, showing pace and consistency in abundance.

Even though track grip was not what it was due to a deluge of rain on Thursday evening, Lorenzo described his feeling gradually getting better through the day, with his fastest lap of the afternoon just 0.16s slower than pace setter and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

“Today, because the clouds we had less temperature," he began. "But on the other hand, in the night it rained quite heavily, and the rain dropped the grip of the tarmac, especially in the morning.

“In the afternoon, the tarmac improved, so the lap times finally with new tyres has been fast, so the track in the afternoon improved constantly. So finally, we got close to the grip of one month ago, but it's still not the same. So let's see if we have better grip tomorrow if it doesn't rain this [Friday] afternoon.

“[In FP1] We exited with the same setup from the test, and we started working in small details on both bikes, comparing the second bike with a little different setting, but not so much, to see if we can improve something. And tomorrow we have other ideas to try, also on the second bike.

“Let's see if we can gain something in the fast sector of the track where I am losing a little bit. But apart from that, I think we have good pace. Good pace with old tires. We are quite ready, and I think we are one of the favourites for the victory.”

Pressed on whether he and Ducati have continued experimenting with the GP18’s ergonomics, after several fuel tank designs were introduced through the year, the five-time world champion responded, “The current one I think was used for the first time in Austria.

“We haven't changed it again. But it didn't improve over the previous one, so it was almost the same. In the last two races and tests, we kept the same ergonomics. I'm not completely happy, but I'm quite satisfied, so we are focused on other areas now.”