Lorenzo aware of required improvements

Sixth fastest in Free Practice 1 and a late crash made for a difficult start to Jorge Lorenzo’s weekend at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix, but the Fiat Yamaha rider is positive things can be improved ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.

Having dominated the Estoril meeting, Lorenzo finished over a second off his team-mate and title rival Valentino Rossi’s pace-setting time, sliding off at turn four in the final few minutes of Friday afternoon’s session.

Lorenzo is now focused on making overnight improvements to both his and his YZR-M1’s condition in order to combat his lack of competitiveness, and maintain the pressure on championship leader Rossi.

“A lot of things went wrong,” said Lorenzo. “We came here after winning in Portugal, but in the first practice we found some problems, especially on the rear tyre which slid and spun so much. Personally I think I am not 100%, because last night I ate some food and am not in good shape. So now I feel very bad and tired. I hope tomorrow I am better. We will try to improve the rear grip. If we can improve this, and I can improve my physical condition, we can be closer to the first position.”

“The only strategy we have is to try to win every race and try to be aggressive, but at the same time be clever because I don’t want to crash.”

With the news that Lorenzo’s Team Manager Daniele Romagnoli will be stepping down from his role to concentrate on other duties within the outfit next season, the rider admitted that it would take time to deal with the change.

“When you change people in your team it’s always a period of adjustment,” said Lorenzo. “Next year, at the beginning, we will miss Daniele but we decided to stop working with him. It’s hard because I love him and he does a great job.”