Lorenzo: Honda has potential to satisfy both riders

Jorge Lorenzo has acknowledged Honda is likely to primarily follow the development requests of lead rider Marc Marquez over the winter months of 2019 and ’20, but stated the factory has the potential to “satisfy both riders”

The Majorcan was unable to score points on Sunday as he struggled with his physical condition, a lack of confidence and deteriorating rear grip around the Motorland Aragon circuit. He came home a distant 20^th with only Hafizh Syahrin behind.

The 32-year old recognises he is unable to ride the RC213V in a similar way to his team-mate or Cal Crutchlow. And conversations with Technical Director Takeo Yokoyama revealed that Honda’s top speed improvements in 2019 came at the cost of cornering ability.

Addressing this over the off-season is one of Lorenzo’s wishes. “Let’s hope for that,” he said on Sunday evening.

“I spoke with Takeo. And it's clear that to gain more power, we got some problems in the corners with the new bike. So Marc is able to take the benefit of this power without losing so much in the corners.

“But as I tried the new bike in Jerez, I saw that something was missing in the corners. I told the engineers, but maybe it was too late to find a solution, and we needed to race with this engine.

“For sure, Honda is now working obviously to keep the power which is a big advantage with this bike, but to solve this problem that generates this in the corners for next year.

“But it's true that the bike from the time it arrived in MotoGP, followed the way of the fastest rider in the team, which was Marc. As you know, Marc has a special riding style, very aggressive and hard-braking riding style, and the bike needed that to be able to work better for Marc. The bike offers this feeling to the rider, and you need to be able to ride similar to Marc to take the maximum.

“But obviously, Honda will follow a little bit the way of the fastest rider, as is normal. But also Honda, as a big factory, has the potential to satisfy a little bit both riders. Not in all the areas, but in a lot of areas, I believe. So let's hope for that for next year.”

On the 23-lap race, Lorenzo insisted he applied himself completely from start to end only to be hampered by a big drop in performance of his rear tyre.

“As you know I always try my best,” he said. “It doesn't matter if I am leading the race or I am in 20th position, I always try my best. And when my best is to fight for the win, I win. And if my best is to get the results I'm getting, I need to accept that situation and to finish the race. There is no other choice.

“I think that apart from the result, which is not good, obviously, these 46 seconds are a lot, I think we can go away from here with some positive things. I think in some practices and even at the beginning of the race, I could ride with more flow, like at the beginning of the season.

“But obviously the injury affects a lot my physical condition and my pain when I am riding. And I lose a little bit from there.

“Today, honestly, I felt a lot the drop of the rear tyre, it was very, very big. Looks like with the current rear tyres, if you have a standard setting, you don't generate enough grip on the rear especially for the race.

“And the rear just doesn't bite into the asphalt to drive and to pick up. So I am all the race trying to manage this spinning, trying to save the tyre, and even like this, the tyre is dropping. We just need to work on that, try to find some solutions.

“It's true that when I tried to be a little bit closer to the setting which Marc and Cal are using, I get worse with the front confidence, so that's why I always sacrifice a little bit of grip on the rear to find some stability on the front.

“Maybe we need to try to find some solutions to gain rear grip to be able to not suffer so much on the race without losing front stability. If we find that, we can be more competitive, I believe, in the next races.”