Brno MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo hoping for new engine boost

Jorge Lorenzo is hoping a new YZR-M1 800cc motor he will test in Brno today (Monday) will help lift his spirits after his bid to successfully defend the MotoGP world crown suffered a major blow in the Czech Republic.

A wrong tyre choice left Lorenzo down in fourth position and Casey Stoner’s dominant victory leaves the Spaniard 32-points adrift in the title hunt with only seven races remaining.

Lorenzo selected Bridgestone’s soft compound front tyre but it was clearly the wrong choice for the hot conditions as he dropped quickly out of the lead and off the podium with grip issues.

Lorenzo is now hoping today’s test session will give him confidence that he can still fight Stoner for the 2011 title.

He’s requested a major horsepower upgrade from Yamaha engineers throughout the season and whether the Japanese factory has met his demands will become clearer later today.

Asked if it was critical that the new engine was a significant performance step to aid his bid to push Stoner in the title hunt, he said: “This is what I hope. I guess it is not so easy to improve the 800 in the last months of this category but Yamaha is working so hard and they don’t want to give up.”

Lorenzo said it made no sense to be too critical of Yamaha when asked by MCN if he was disappointed that the YZR-M1 had not improved more compared to 2010.

He said: “If I get more angry I will not gain anything. I am not an engineer so I can’t do anything more to improve the bike. They are working but if you work it doesn’t mean that you must have better things. It is so difficult to find better things when the evolution of the bikes and the performance of the bikes is so high.

“So it is not so easy. You can see on the Ducati that they change the bike completely but they haven’t found much better results. Honda was working for so many years when they weren’t winning and finally they found something really good.”

Lorenzo will also debut Yamaha’s new 1000cc MotoGP contender for 2012 in Brno today.
See the August 17 edition of Motor Cycle News for more from Lorenzo in seven pages of Brno race coverage.