Lorenzo: “As a start, we can’t be happier”

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) dominated Day 3 at Sepang. After an early crash, the Majorcan came back out swinging and set the fastest ever lap of the Malaysian venue: a 1:58.830. As could be expected, Lorenzo was pretty positive after the day’s proceedings – and positive about the GP18.

“The lap is a consequence of having a good bike, feeling well and being in shape,” says the Spaniard. “The most important thing is that the bike is working, it is giving me a good feeling and it’s improved a lot of areas compared to last year. As I said on the first day, the bike has improved and it’s more suited to my riding style and I can take profit of my strong points. We are at the beginning of how to understand how to get the maximum, there is still some margin to improve, but as a start we cannot be happier than this – always on top, always good pace, and I’m very quick.”

Very quick, in this case, was record-beating quick. But Lorenzo says the perfect lap doesn’t exist – and in addition, that there was still margin there. “The perfect lap doesn’t exist, so it’s a continuous process of improvement every year and we will get faster and faster. It was not the perfect lap because we had something to test at the start of the day when the track was coldest. After an hour and a half, the track was quite hot, the grip was not perfect, the engine was not in the best condition to be fast but it was a good lap.” The Spaniard then went on to praise Ducati’s teamwork – and says it’s far from over or even slowing despite their progress. “We are closer, but it’s a never-ending process. I will always fight to improve the bike with the engineers and I’m very proud of the teamwork, they’ve done a great job. We can be satisfied but we will never stop working because we know how our competitors can close the gap.”

That they can, but Lorenzo added a final soundbite to conclude his big statement made on track.

“I was stronger in other areas with the other bike,” he concedes, “but in general I’ve been faster with the Ducati.”