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MotoGP, Lorenzo: "With less water I could have been from first to fifth"

The Majorcan disappointed after poor qualifiers: "Disastrous result due to a chance occurrence". Dovizioso ninth on the grid: "Fortunately Viñales will not start in front of us"

MotoGP: Lorenzo: "With less water I could have been from first to fifth"

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Only Bradley Smith with the first-year KTM and the disoriented Tito Rabat did worse than he did: for Jorge Lorenzo, today was a day of very difficult qualifiers, finishing with the twenty-first final time which means he will start quite far back on the grid tomorrow on the seventh row.

It is the Majorcan’s worst qualifying session since his move to Ducati, explained by the rider himself after the engines were switched off: “If we look at my result, it was definitely a disaster - Lorenzo admits - However, I think it was due to a chance occurrence. I put two new gyres on in the 15 minutes that we had available when it rained very hard and I did not have confidence. I tried to push, but I had bad sensations. I could not do any more. Today was a strange day, but for tomorrow I am positive. I want to finish the race with good impressions.”

Usually the Ducati does well in the wet. More was expected from you…

As I said before, with less water I would have been able to do from first to fifth. In those 15 minutes when it rained hard, I had a bad feeling. I gave it my all and risked crashing, but I could not go faster.”

You had an accident in 2013 right here and in rainy conditions. Did that make you hate Assen?

If that were the case, in FP4 I would not have been very fast, second only behind Zarco. I need to look forward to tomorrow. We will try to take the best advantage of the time in warm up. I am still very positive for the Grand Prix.”

If Lorenzo did badly, Dovizioso’s result was not exactly stellar, ninth and almost two seconds behind Zarco: “A difficult situation: I had very little grip - Andrea explains - We were unable to find the perfect setting that we usually have in the rain. We were not terribly fast but in any case, we have some interesting ideas for warm up where we will try several solutions. We’ll also see what the weather will be like for the race.”

What was the biggest problem?

The Michelin rain tyres have changed: last year the limitations came from the front, whereas now the problems are with the rear. The French engineers tried to balance out the performance of the tyres, but I noticed that all the riders struggled with the rear tyre. The crash? There was a lot of water. I pushed a bit too hard and ended up on the ground. I did not have a perfect feeling with the rear.”

What is your prediction for the race tomorrow? Do you think that Zarco could even win?

“Zarco can make a play for the race and he is not the one who could win both in the wet and in the dry. Fortunately, Maverick Viñales will not start in front of us. In fact, he will start from the eleventh spot on the grid. In the Grand Prix tomorrow a lot of us will be contenders.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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