Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest MotoGP lap around the Le Mans circuit during qualifying this afternoon, and an impressive 1’31.975 was more than good enough for him to bag his debut pole position at the track too.
But one aspect of today’s proceedings that has pleased the reigning champion is the new rear ‘softer’ tyre compound construction brought in by Michelin this weekend, which all the riders used today.
During the last round at Jerez he experienced issues with the rear tyre and suffered wheelspin in a straight line on his M1, but Lorenzo is happy with the new tyre, which is softer in the centre, and he used the softer rear for qualifying with a medium front this afternoon.
His out-right lap record surprised the Spaniard and he did not expect to go so fast today. But he has hailed the lap as ‘amazing’ and if conditions for the race tomorrow stay the same as qualifying than he is hoping for a very good race.
“Very, very happy as the lap was amazing and I didn’t expect to be so fast. I expected to stay in 32 lows, not 31’9’s. It was a great lap and great work from the team. We have a good base set up from Friday and we improved the bike and at the moment things look very good for the race,” said Lorenzo at the circuit.
“Everyone is happy with the work of Michelin because they work hard and very quick and probably we did not have this in the past in the championship. To get the same grip as we got in position at Qatar requires time, but for the moment we improve the problem from 30 to 40 percent and we have quite a good tyre to race with tomorrow.
“The new tyre is especially softer in the centre and probably also in the sides so this is more similar to the tyre we got in position in the Qatar race and this helped for sure to avoid problems we got mostly in the Jerez race.”
