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Lorenzo has had a cold shower at Sepang, but it hasn't proved to be very refreshing. Jorge left Valencia feeling optimistic about his adaptation to the Ducati, he was immediately fast in Spain while at Sepang he has closed day one in 17th place, a good second and a hald from leaders Stoner and Dovizioso.
“I still have a lot to understand. At Valencia I rode as I always have over the last nine years, without modifying my style. I did the same here but have struggled and was slow”, he explains.
On the one side, this is normal, because the Desmosedici and M1 are night and day.
“Ar Valencia I trusted my instincts and it worked, here no - he says - Today I realised how differnt the Ducati and the Yamaha are, I think they are the most different of all the MotoGP bikes, and, to be fast, you need the opposite riding style. I admit that I didn't expect this and have realised that there's more work to do than I thought. In addition, the tyres we had available today were too hard and this complicated things”.
This is what testing is for after all, and Jorge will need to make the most of the 8 test days he has left.
“I've seen that I need to change my braking style, with the Yamaha I could brake earlier, counting on the corner speed while the Ducati allows you to brake later- he continues - On the one hand, I need to make the bike easier for me to ride with my style, but above all I need to work on myself, on my adaptation”.
No easy task, but one that Lorenzo has already started on.
“I started out 3 seconds behind and finished 1.5 seconds back, so making progress, step by step. Then rain stopped that progress. There have been some positives too, these improvements and that fact that Dovizioso and Stoner are showing the bike is fast" , he concludes, seeing the glass half full.
His work continues tomorrow, when he'll test the latest GP17 evolutions. Weather permitting.
