Tyre management key in 2012, says Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo believes the rider who can save his tyres the longest in the inaugural 1000cc campaign will have the best chance of success after he completed an eye-opening race simulation on Yamaha’s new YZR-M1 machine in Sepang today.

The 19-lap run gave the Spaniard his first chance to assess the new softer construction Bridgestone tyres over a long distance and he was surprised at how quickly grip deteriorated.

The new spec tyres have been designed with better initial warm-up performance to avoid a spate of cold tyre high-sides.

But the trade-off has been endurance with Lorenzo reporting a significant drop in performance after just four laps.

His best lap was his second when he logged a 2.01.189 but his worst was on lap 12 when he posted a 2.02.092. Most of his laps were in the high 2.01 bracket but he told MCN that tyre management will be crucial in 2012.

“I saw that this year it will be really, really hard to keep a constant pace for the whole race. The rider that doesn’t have problems with the tyres at the end of the race will have a strong season. After three or four laps the rear tyre drops a lot. After that it stays quite constant. The front is also very soft for me and I have a lot of problems in braking. But I could still keep a constant pace and I’m quite satisfied. Now we have a lot of data for the tyres, electronics and fuel consumption so it has been important, “said the 2010 world champion.

The extra power of the new generation 1000s and challenge of managing front and rear tyre slides meant riding this year’s Yamaha was a much more physically demanding exercise compared to the old 800cc bike.

Lorenzo said: “On braking it is but when you are on the edge you always panic to crash because with the soft tyres they are very safe when you exit the pits but then it becomes very hard to ride because it is always moving like rain conditions. It is more difficult to ride over a long distance.”