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In Austria, in a race he finished third behind the unstoppable Ducatis of Iannone and Dovizioso, Jorge Lorenzo showed that he had come through the mini-crisis that had affected him in Holland and Germany, where the Spaniard finished far from the front.
Third this morning and again this afternoon, with times very close to those of Iannone and Marquez, Lorenzo appears to be on form in Brno and, in response to questioning about the dark tunnel of several races ago, Jorge replies confidently: “the tunnel only lasted two races, this is a sport in which, if a rider drops back a little, it's immediately referred to as a crisis and they start to say he can no longer ride; as I said yesterday, the tyres change and you need a different riding style in cold and wet conditions, like those in Holland and Germany, we need to do something different to improve”.
But in the dry, in 'normal' conditions, Lorenzo clarifies that he's not worried at all: “as you've seen before, and even in the Austrian race, I was up front, so there's no psychological problem or anything like that, I was fast as usual, just like in the other races”.
In FP2 Marquez wasn't the fastest on track overall, yet set the quickest time of the day…
“Yes, it's quite strange because Marc wasn't faster than 1’56 and then suddenly he did a time that was a second quicker, I don't know how but the new tyre obviously helped a lot, perhaps he was able to find a good solution with the front tyre or something good with the bike. You'd have to ask him…”
Taking a second off is an enormous step and Jorge has a theory: “yes, the improvement was enormous but he really rides fast and aggressively, taking risks too. Perhaps Marc is trying to put his bike to the test, but I can say that his Honda isn't so bad as, without a good bike, you can't lead the championship, and Marquez rides well, and fast. Today for example he was on the limit”.
Back to Lorenzo's performance, which also comes down to technical aspects: “I used different tyres, both the rear solutions and three front solutions, though I only tried two. We have to see how the soft tyre might work in the race”.
Regarding pace, Lorenzo did the best while Marquez was not so consistent but Jorge has clear ideas: “Marquez made two laps on the limit, in which he rode really fast; we need to see if he can make 5, or 8 or more laps with times between 55 and 56. If he can, Marc will be able to fight for the win. Iannone and Rossi have similar pace to me and Vinales was quick and consistent too... I think 3 or 4 riders will fight the win”.
The Ducatis were terrifying in Austria but Jorge only fears Iannone at Brno…
“The Ducatis aren't dominating here like at the Red Bull Ring, where power and speed were key. At that track, all the Ducati riders were quick, from the factory guys to the privateers. here at Brno what counts is good traction and, for now, I only see Iannone doing well. Valentino, Marc and I will be Ducati's rivals here at a track where they won't dominate".
