Lorenzo: “Our rivals are fast”

It was Lorenzo’s first time riding at the Red Bull Ring - Spielberg, therefore his main aim was to get a feel for the track‘s unique character and find a good balance for all aspects of his bike‘s set up. The track has only ten corners (three left and seven right), a 626m longest straight and many opportunities to fully open the throttle. The Mallorcan was impressed with the beauty of the circuit and looks forward to racing there in three weeks‘ time after making progress with the set up of his bike on the second day. His fastest time, a 1‘24.194s, earned him sixth place in the second day time sheets.

Jorge Lorenzo: “The track is beautiful and very fast. The tarmac is good, there are just three or four corners where the wall is very close and that can be dangerous in case of a crash. It‘s difficult to change this track, but for sure for the future it would be good to try to improve the safety. The test of speed has been hard, because some of our rivals are fast, it looks like the track is giving them a big advantage, especially in braking stability, acceleration and top speed. They can put in all the power they have at this track and the difference is huge. Compared to other competitors we are not so far behind, but there are a lot of rivals, who are all very fast. We will reduce their advantage, but not close the whole margin, because they are so fast. With the bike we have - the balance and the electronics – we have to find the best setting for all the aspects and go as fast as possible.

Compared to yesterday, today was better, because by riding all day the track was gaining grip and we were able to go a little bit faster. We also tried many things on the bike and some of them improved, so again I could go a little bit faster. Finally we were not 1.4s from the fastest one, but nine tenths. It‘s a little improvement and we are still far behind, but let‘s see if we can do another step in the race weekend. We will have to see what the weather does and which tyres Michelin will bring for the GP. Maybe they won‘t bring the tyres that we tried here. Let‘s see if they have less grip or suffer more graining. The one they keep may not be the best, but should be safer for a long race. Let's see how we feel in one month‘s time.”