Misano MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo struggles again

After scoring his worst result of an outstanding MotoGP campaign in Indianapolis last weekend, Jorge Lorenzo suffered another tough day in practice at Misano this afternoon.

The Spaniard finished outside of the top two in a race for the first time last weekend in America with third place behind compatriot Dani Pedrosa and rookie sensation Ben Spies.

The Fiat Yamaha rider was eclipsed by bitter rival Pedrosa again today, the 23-year-old finishing third fastest in the opening practice session in Italy.

Lorenzo could only post a best time of 1.35.444 to finish just 0.060s behind Andrea Dovizioso in second place.

But he was a massive 0.672s behind Pedrosa’s factory RC212V machine and not in a happy mood.

The double world 250GP champion, who will hold more talks with Yamaha about a 2011 deal this weekend, said: “Today was quite difficult for us, more so than we expected.

“It’s not my physical condition, I feel completely recovered from the hard weekend in Indianapolis, but we really struggled today and I didn’t have enough confidence in my bike or in the tyres.

“We have some small problems in braking, corner speed and acceleration so I don’t feel like I can ride how I want to at the moment. We are still third so it’s not too bad but we have some time to make up if we are to match Pedrosa.

“I have great confidence that my team will find the right way to improve and I hope we will be in better shape tomorrow.”