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MotoGP, Lorenzo: the Ducati can already win races

"The bike feels more and more like mine". Dovizioso: "with the GP17 I can play and cornering has improved without the wings"

MotoGP: Lorenzo: the Ducati can already win races

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Monday was a shock, I admit that I lay awake that night and had more problems going to sleep than usual. In recent years I've always been competitive and to myself so far from the front was strange”. Lorenzo can now look back at that with a smile though, as he's been able to make significant improvement, confirming his progress on this, the last day of testing in Malaysia.

It's been another good day, the position is not fantastic - comments Jorge, referring to 9th place - but I've made significant improvement, both in terms of times and with the bike, which feels more like it's mine with each exit I make. Not forgetting that three days ago I was more than a second and half off, while now it's a few tenths. And I didn't use the soft tyre to set my time”.

The Ducati has become a friend.

We need to work on certain details, but there is great potential - he assures us - We're already very competitive, despite being far from the limit, and this is positive, in fact I'm faster than I expected to be. I think that this bike, with no further changes, could already win races, but not the championship”.

The Majorcan has also worked on himself.

"I've learned to be more aggressive, more 'on/off' both with the accelerator and the brakes. With the Ducati you're often sideways, you can enjoy the full power.

Jorge was the only rider to complete a race simulation.

It was tiring after three months away from the MotoGP. It's not that the Ducati is more tiring to ride, but its tires different muscles, relaxing others - he explains- It was important for me to do many consecutive laps to better understand the bike, this is why I rode, even if conditions were strange, like in the rain. In the simulation I rode the new GP17, it didn't have a perfect set-up because there wasn't time to sort that, but I liked it”.

The Majorcan also thanked the team.

I'm very pleased because they didn't lose faith, not even in light of the problems on day one. Working with Gabarrini is a pleasure”  he commented.

DOVIZIOSO: NOW I CAN PLAY WITH THE DUCATI - Dovizioso is also very pleased with how things have gone and, as usual, he analyses the details. Starting with Jorge's statement that the GP17 can already win races but not the championship.

That's what we did last season, but it's normal that my references and those of Jorge are different - explains Andrea - I can make a comparison with the past, he can't. Despite this, our comments are similar, we are moving in the same direction in terms of development.

Dovi's words shouldn't be interpreted as negative.

On the contrary - he specifies - I didn't expect to be so competitive, even on used tyres. In contrast to last year, now I can play with the Desmosedici. We'd done significant development work on the wings and so removing them was a big deal for us. But the bike has worked better than I thought it would, it now turns more easily, though we still need to work on this area.

The Italian also tested the new GP17.

As we thought, there's no massive difference, but I set some good lap times with that bike too - he continues - Sensations are good and we still have room for improvement, as do our rivals. Also in terms of the aerodynamics, everyone's working on this but no-one has any clear ideas yet”.

Translated by Heather Watson
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