MotoGP: Aragon podium ‘has a better flavour’ for Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo says that his podium finish at Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix has a ‘better flavour’ than his debut podium for Ducati back at Jerez in May, after the five-time world champion managed to spend almost three quarters of the race in the lead before being hunted down by the Repsol Honda duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

And with laps led, final result and the gap to the leaders as good as he’s managed so far on the Italian manufacturer’s machine, he says that all in all he’s delighted with the performance – even if he just missed out on a chance to take the race win.

“It was a very tough race but we were able to manage it well, and in the end we scored an important podium finish. This third place has a much better flavour than the one at Jerez because we finished very close to the winner and we fought right until the very end.

“It’s a pity I wasn’t able to keep the same pace in the last seven laps, but to be competitive in the race we had no other choice but use the soft rear tyre even though we knew that in the last few laps the performance was going to drop. In any case it’s important to see that we’re continuing to make progress and that I’m getting better every race and so I’m sure my first win will come soon.”

However, teammate and championship contender Andrea Dovizioso says he doesn’t think that the tyres were a factor in his performance on Sunday despite electing for the same soft option at Lorenzo, instead admitting that the Motorland Aragon circuit simply isn’t one that particularly suits him.

“It was a complicated weekend and my race was a tough one. At the start I tried to stay with the leading group, but unfortunately I didn’t have many cards to play: for sure not being able to do many laps on Friday complicated the situation because we knew this wasn’t an easy track for us and that we needed more time to work.

“I don’t think that opting for the soft rear tyre was a mistake, and the drop in performance towards the end of the race in my opinion is due to other factors, seeing as I was losing a lot in some parts of the track. Pity about my seventh place but, given the conditions, it was the best I could do today. There are still a lot of points at stake in the next four races and so we’ll try and make the best of the next opportunities.”