Lorenzo looking strong after day one

Jorge Lorenzo was second fastest today and showed the potential to continue his strong run of form at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. Lorenzo has always been strong at Mugello and while he could match the outright pace of the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso his pace was ominous on longer runs.

“We have more or less we are at the same pace,” said Lorenzo. “Maybe in the morning we were quite a bit faster than last year. Maybe six or seven tenths. This afternoon I expected to improve quite a bit but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t improve the bike as I wanted so I try to do it during the practice but it has been difficult. Also Ramon Forcada wasn’t here today. We had to manage my telemetry guys and the other engineers to manage the day. It’s not the same and has been a bit difficult to work today because we are not used to work without Ramon. I think our potential is better than we have now. Tomorrow in these two practice we need to improve the bike.”

With Ducati looking so strong the challenge of beating the red bikes will come from being able to open a gap from them before the start finish straight because the GP15 has been incredibly fast on the home straight. With a new engine for tomorrow this margin could grow once again. For Lorenzo the challenge is clear.

“Obviously when you see the Ducatis so strong in the rest of the tracks then in Mugello it’s normal that they’re even better. They say in the test they make 46.9s so everyone expected this today. Obviously Andrea put a new tyre at the end of the practice so it has been a little bit of an advantage for him. We keep using the same tyre all the practice. They are strong and they have a powerful engine so on this long straight it’s a big thing compared to our bike.”