Reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo experimented with the 2016 Movistar Yamaha YZR-M1 - which has fuel tank at the rear - during the opening day of MotoGP practice.

The tank, which puts more weight towards the rear of the bike and lowers the centre of gravity, should help with rear grip but track conditions didn’t allow for a comprehensive evaluation, so he intends to revisit tomorrow.

“It was OK. We couldn’t compare so much with the other bike. Tomorrow we are going to test again with both bikes to see the difference,” said Lorenzo, speaking at Jerez.

Team-mate Valentino Rossi has yet to try the tank but believes it could help reduce wheelspin - but the nature of Jerez means it probably won’t make much difference and the harder construction tyre means there will be more spin.

“Today we divide a little bit the work, because Jorge tried the different tank and I tried a different setting. I’m happy about my performance, about my bike. I don’t know exactly the comment of Jorge about the tank. Later when I go to the box I will try to understand if tomorrow we test,” said The Doctor.

“For me, very much it is the track because with Bridgestone also we struggle a lot for traction here. The harder casing is worse for the traction. But safety first. It is important to be 100 per cent safe. We cannot risk the tyre explode, so this construction have a little bit less performance and a bit more spin.”