Mutiple world champion Jorge Lorenzo believes he was just two-tenths of a second per lap shy of his first MotoGP victory as the gap he opened in yesterday’s Aragon race wasn’t quite enough as his soft rear Michelin began to drop.
The Ducati rider used the soft rear to great advantage, opening up a significant gap over Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and team-mate Andrea Dovizioso but he had to knock his pace off with seven laps left as the rear began to lose grip.
“From one side, it is worse than in Jerez because you feel the victory is more close but from the other side I prefer this podium because I am closer to the victory, and this is the most interesting thing, to be able to fight for victory,” said Lorenzo, speaking at the track.
“We needed just two-tenths more to go away and take this gap, but still in some corners I lose too much and finally the soft rear tyre, which was the only one we can be competitive with as the medium felt so much different, in the last seven laps I didn’t have traction. I had to drop my pace and be happy with third place.”
Lorenzo believes his first win on the Desmosedici is coming soon and says he now just need to improve on mid-crner speed to make it happen.
“We are very close to victory and it will happen very soon. Dovizioso has demonstrated it is possible to win with this bike, we are competitive in almost all the tracks but we need to improve some small details, especially in the middle of the corner but the team is working on that.”
