Fresh off his dominant win at Mugello, Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo again looks quick and comfortable as Friday practice ends before the Catalunya GP this Sunday. Indicating to the press that his Ducati is now easy on tires, Lorenzo expressed confidence for Sunday’s race and proceeded to post the fastest lap in practice so far.
Take a look here for Friday practice results, and read the full press release below from Ducati regarding free practice at the Catalunya circuit. Stay tuned to MD for further reports on the Catalunya GP.
Jorge Lorenzo ended the first day of free practice action for the Catalan GP, round 7 of the championship held this weekend at the Montmeló circuit, at the top of the timesheets. The Ducati Team’s Spanish rider, who had set third-quickest time this morning, lapped in an excellent pace in the afternoon session and set a time of 1’38.930 towards the end of FP2, which put him on provisional pole position.
Fourth quickest was Andrea Dovizioso, who was classified in second place in the morning’s FP1 session. The Italian set a time of 1’39.443 towards the end of the second session, after bolting on a set of soft tyres for his time-attack, like almost all the other riders.
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99): 1st (1’38.930)
“We have begun this Catalan GP weekend well and have shown that we have a very competitive base. The track has changed but my feelings are very good and in addition the Montmeló circuit has always been one of those where I manage to get the best out of my riding style. Ever since the test a few weeks ago we were convinced that we could be very quick here and we confirmed it both this morning and in the afternoon, when we also lapped with a very good race pace. We must continue in this way tomorrow to try and get a front-row grid start, which will be very important for the race.”Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 4th (1’39.443)
“It wasn’t a very easy day because, even though the track is really good with the new asphalt, the grip is strange and we will have to work well to be in good shape for the race. The behaviour of the tyres is quite strange and it’s not easy to manage the bike, but we have a good pace and we are amongst the fastest, so I’m happy with the way today went.”
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Looking to the future Ducati press release.
“Dovizioso and Petrucci getting along nicely on their “JL19″ Ducatis. We feel confident that we can challenge Lorenzo on the Repsol Honda.”
From the pics, the “tank mod” is “just” a shaped tank pad attached to the tank/cover. It doesn’t look like something that should have been that hard to develop.
As far as Ducati’s attitude goes, it is hard to tell. I suspect that they would rather win with Lorenzo than lose with Dovisioso.
I’ve been a Lorenzo fan for a while, but especially after the “collarbone comeback”. It is good to see him back on form with a working bike. The past year & a half have been painful to watch at times.
Friday’s often don’t mean much, but it is still good to see how things are shaping up.
I’d just like to add that Friday’s leaders don’t always hold all weekend, but good for Jorge. I would also like to point out that I predicted that Jorge might move to Honda first… even before there were rumors… it just makes sense. Interesting times ahead!
Reading the two rider’s statements, it sounds like the bike’s development has gravitated toward satisfying Lorenzo and not Dovizioso. That’d be a weird development, because they know Dovi’s staying and JL is leaving..
No, that’s not what happened. Lorenzo merely asked for an alteration to the fuel tank FOR HIM primarily since he was sliding forward too much on braking and had to use his arms to brace himself to prevent this. This caused him fatigue. As is typical Ducati arrogance, they ignored his request. They finally relented…and what do you know? Lorenzo was right…and he won the race.
Clearly he’s much more comfortable with this set up as evidenced by his quicker times.
We don’t know what happened, but I don’t believe that this is as simple as a gas tank. He’s won on a decade’s worth of iterations of the Yamaha M1 and numerous smaller bikes before that, all with presumably different gas tank profiles. He’s jumped forward (massively) and Dovi has slid back, and I don’t think he’s blaming the gas tank..
Feel free to believe what you want. As Jorge has said, he tells the truth, but people don’t believe him. As for me, I tend to think that Jorge knows more about what caused the difference than you or I, and he says it was the tank mod.
They each have their own spec. Aside from the much talked about fuel tank change, I believe Lorenzo runs a modified frame as well. Dovi’s bike is still as Dovi wants.