MotoGP: Lorenzo not taking too much from opening night fifth

Jorge Lorenzo is keen not to take too much from his fifth placed finish on the opening night of action for the 2017 MotoGP season, coming away reserved despite the strong result ln his opening night of competition on his new Ducati machine.

He finished fifth overall, only 0.020 off Jonas Folger in fourth, but coming away well over a second clear of leader Maverick Viñales he says there’s still much to do before they’re ready to challenge for the race win this weekend.

“Today’s result is quite good, but we are still some way off the fastest times. Our aim for tomorrow will be to try and find the same sensations with the hard tyre, with which we are still struggling to set some competitive times, and have the confidence required to achieve a good race pace.”

His teammate Andrea Dovizioso was equally reserved on the other side of the Ducati garage, admitting that with rain forecast for this afternoon’s action, he made a mistake by not securing his direct entry into Q2 by setting a faster time than 11^th.

“Today, as expected, the track conditions were not at their best, with wind and dirt during the only weekend session that will probably be dry before the race. At the start of the session I set a good time, and so I didn’t want to fit a soft tyre at the end because I thought I could stay in amongst the top ten: instead I missed out by a fraction. It was my mistake, and a pity because when I was using the same tyre as the others I was third, and so I know I am amongst the quickest riders.”