Factory Repsol Honda MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo remained pragmatic despite a rough weekend in Mugello, which saw him qualifying in seventeenth and finish Sunday’s race in thirteenth.

After a step forward in Le Mans and going to a track in which Lorenzo has won six times in MotoGP, the Spaniard could’ve been forgiven for thinking that he was going to be semi-competitive this weekend.

However, the former World Champion was largely anonymous and the last of all four Honda riders all weekend. Despite this, Lorenzo admitted that this is what he expected from this weekend.

“Today was more or less what we expected,” said Lorenzo.

“I didn’t have the pace and wasn’t as comfortable on the bike to be more competitive.

“We made a change in the Warm Up and it improved some areas. Not better or worse than we expected but neither myself nor Honda give up on making progress and finding a solution together.

“Now I will go to Japan to work with Honda on some improvements to come back stronger.”

When asked what improvements he will be targeting when he goes to Japan to see HRC engineers, Lorenzo said: “It’s clear we have a very strong engine at this moment, b this brings another problem in other areas, it’s difficult to ride in my opinion.

“Marc has been very fast, winning a lot of races with this bike, so the most logical thing is that they keep the way of Marc. But if any factory can make a Plan B, it’s Honda.”