After Yamaha’s domination in Qatar, Honda’s in Austin, Jerez de la Frontera was supposed to be an even playing field between the two major manufacturers, even if Lorenzo ended up on top of all the timesheets except for the warm-up session that went to Marc Marquez, and that should have sounded a warning bell in the reigning world champion’s head.
Jerez also turned out to be where complaints about tires came back into vogue and for the first time this year we’ve heard Lorenzo say he risked a lot because of the front tire and that he needs a more competitive Yamaha and the bike’s limits are the same, problems in acceleration and the need of more stability in corner exit.
“I have always been positive so today also I am going to be positive, to finish the race with sixteen points is always a great result.
I was second for the whole race and then lost the place on the last corner so it wasn’t the perfect race.
The perfect race is a victory and if not possible second, the next is third.
Today we got another podium and we are quite close to the leader.
On the other hand we have to improve the bike.
I think I made two mistakes in the race, in the start I started really badly and in the last corner, I thought Marquez was further behind than he was so I didn’t take a defensive line, this was my second mistake,” said Lorenzo.
Valentino Rossi was disappointed with his fourth place because he was targeting a podium.
The Italian did have the same pace in as Lorenzo and Marquez in the second part of the race, but he accumulated his gap to the front riders in the first half part when he had problems handling a full tank and under braking.
Rossi also echoed Lorenzo’s issues, but he went a step further.
According to Rossi the Honda riders are able to lift their bikes faster in acceleration and that stresses less the tire shoulder and that their seemless gearbox does help, but it is not only that.
Asked about the contact between his team mate and Marquez, Rossi absolved the rookie and said he wished he had been with them.
“It was a difficult race.
Unfortunately we were not able to be better, we suffered a bit with the conditions and we tried to do the maximum.
We improved the set up for the race and we did a good start.
I was with the top group but unfortunately I was not fast enough to stay with the top three.
Lap by lap the gap was bigger so I think we have some work to do.
Here in Jerez I expected we could go faster than Honda but they arrived in front of us.
We still have some work to do to improve the bike.
Tomorrow we have the test and we’ll try to find the right balance.
In the Championship we are not very far from the top and we took some important points.
I wanted to be on the podium but unfortunately it was not possible, we will try again next week,” said Rossi.