MotoGP: ‘Much better start’ for Lorenzo and Ducati

Jorge Lorenzo has admitted that the Phillip Island test has gotten off to a much better start than the first Sepang test of the 2017 season did earlier this month, with the triple world champion finishing the day much higher on the time sheets.

Still working at adapt his riding style after nine years on Yamahas, he struggled at Sepang to finish the opening day of that test in a distant 17^th, but was pleased to come away from the opening day in Australia 11^th despite losing the chance for a fast lap.

“The tests here at Phillip Island have begun a lot better than in Sepang, and today we used the same base set-up that we had established at the end of the test in Malaysia. It was a shame that during the last one and a half hours we were unable to improve our lap times while other riders did.

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“We struggled to lower our times because of the strong wind and in addition the last rear tyre we fitted didn’t have the same sort of performance that we had expected. In any case it’s positive the fact that every day we are accumulating new information and that we are always making small steps forward.”

And on the other side of the Ducati garage, teammate Andrea Dovizioso was also pleased with his work, as both he and team continue to learn the new GP17 machine at one of the season’s more challenging tracks.

“Today we concentrated on doing some tests with the chassis because we had to define several aspects, and we used up the entire day for this work. The feeling is quite good, but here at Phillip Island you feel the difference between lapping with the wings and without more than in Malaysia. We still have to improve the bike’s balance and set-up, and that’s scheduled for tomorrow, so then we’ll see what sort of times we can lap in, as everyone will surely make a further step forward.”

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