Despite having finished on top of the timesheest in both Friday’s practices, Jorge Lorenzo was not completely satisfied.
With four other riders behind him and separated by just 0.
327s, the reigning World Champion isn’t feeling completely at ease with his race pace, and admits that he has to improve on it and needs to find an extra three or four tenths in order to keep his competition at bay, and is still pondering over which tire to use on Sunday.
“At the beginning of the second practice I felt better than this morning but with the warmer temperatures it has been difficult to keep the same pace.
We will have to work on the settings to keep the same pace for tomorrow.
We need to try to improve our pace by three or four tenths, to ride comfortably in the 39s will be a good feeling.
I’m happy that we are first in today’s two sessions but I want more,” said Lorenzo who will turn 26 tomorrow.
Jerez is one of Valentino Rossi’s favorite tracks and even if he was fourth fastest and a little more than three tenths adrift, the Italian also isn’t satisfied after trying the set-up he used at the Jerez test in March and also the Austin one.
Rossi also seems stumped on which tire to use because with the hard spec his M1 starts to slip in full lean and heats up and loses its grip in acceleration, while he’s not sure that the softer option will last the distance.
“The first and second practices were not so bad.
We tried to work and understand a good balance for the bike.
We still haven’t found the perfect way yet.
We also tried to understand the right tyre choice for the race because it is difficult with the soft and also with the hard so we need to make sure we make the right choice to go fast on Sunday.
Anyway, we are in fourth place and not so far from pole position.
Tomorrow we have to try to continue to work in this way because it will be important for the race to start at the maximum within the first five,” said Rossi.
