Jorge Lorenzo starts work with Ducati at Valencia MotoGP testing

Three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has turned his first laps with Ducati in post-season testing at Valencia.

Less than 36 hours after winning on his Yamaha farewell on Sunday, Lorenzo was the first rider out when pit exit opened at 10am on Tuesday.

The Spaniard conferred with Ducati's test rider Casey Stoner after that initial five-lap run, and took his total to 26 laps after two-and-a-half hours.

Ducati has its 2017 bike at Valencia, but Lorenzo is set to work with the '16 model for most of, if not all, of Tuesday.

Like many manufacturers, Ducati is running the now-banned winglets, to provide an accurate benchmark with data from the race weekend.

At 12:30pm, Lorenzo was ninth fastest with a best time of 1m32.488s, 1.538 seconds off the early pace set by his former Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

He was also fastest through the speed trap, at 322.4km/h, 3.6km/h faster than Avintia Ducati's Hector Barbera.

Maverick Vinales was second at the time on his first run with Yamaha (pictured below), one spot ahead of new Suzuki recruit Andrea Iannone.

New KTM pair Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were 14th and 23rd, while Tech3 Yamaha's Jonas Folger was the best of the rookies in 17th.

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MotoGP, Lorenzo: I need a miracle

"It felt like I was riding on eggs. In these conditions I am not competitive, there is no such thing as the perfect rider"


Jorge Lorenzo’s mood is like the sky over Assen: grey. The world champion was never able to get going this weekend and the rain only worsened the situation. Starting from the 10th spot on the grid is his worst qualifying since 2008.

“On the dry I could stay in the top 6. In the wet, in FP4, I didn’t do too badly but I tended to lose the front in all the right-handers – he explains – We decided to make a change, moving the weight forward, but by doing that, not only did I not solve the problem, but I also lost grip at the rear.”

It could not have gone worse.

“It felt like I was riding on eggs – he continues – I tried to stay on the track to gain some confidence and I was able to improve a bit, but not enough. Valentino was smart to put on a new tyre, but he would have been faster than me anyway.”

As if that was not enough, in the morning session Jorge also fell.

“A lot of us did. I was using the medium compound tyre but it was too hard for those temperatures –he says – When the throttle opened, the rear pushed on the front, closing it up.”

The race will be anything but easy.

“I need to have confidence in the tyres to be fast. When there is no grip I am unable to be competitive – is his analysis – The Yamaha is not an easy bike when the grip is poor and I am the one that has the most problems. It is partly my fault and today I was far from the leaders.”

Jorge hopes for a good start.

“I am usually good and I could even find myself in the front group – he hopes – Unfortunately, there is no such thing as the perfect rider. It is not I, it is not Marquez and not even Valentino. Fortunately, 90% of the races are held in normal conditions, where I am fast, but I need to try to be fast all the time. I need to understand my problems and work to resolve them. Without a miracle, it will be difficult to ride a wet race. I need to improve by at least a second.”

Some indirect help could come from Rossi.

“As always, we share data. He is very fast and it will be interesting to compare the data to see how I can improve.”

MotoGP: Defending champion Jorge Lorenzo wins Qatar opener

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo got the defence of his MotoGP title off to a winning start with victory in Qatar.

The three-time champion held off the challenge of Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso after passing the Italian on lap nine.

Spain's Marc Marquez came third on his Honda, while Italy's seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi, 37, finished fourth on his Yamaha.

Britain's Cal Crutchlow crashed his Honda on the seventh lap following a mistake on turn four.

Fellow Briton Bradley Smith, who will join Austrian manufacturer KTM in 2017, finished eighth on his Yamaha, while Scott Redding was 10th on his Ducati.

Northern Ireland's Eugene Laverty, who equalled his best MotoGP performance in qualifying, finished 12th.

Spanish rider Lorenzo, 28, was pleased that his gamble of switching to a soft tyre following an off-the-pace warm-up lap paid off.

"To choose the right tyre was very important" he said.

"I tried the warm-up lap with a hard tyre but I did not get the best feeling.

"It was very risky to go for the soft tyre, as our main rivals Rossi and Marquez chose the hard one.

"But it turned out well, as I made the fastest lap of 1:54.9 seconds [late in the race], which was impressive."

Qatar result:

1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 42:28.452

2. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati +2.019

3. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda +2.287

4. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha +2.387

5. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda +14.083

6. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki +15.423

7. Pol Espargaro (Spain) Yamaha +18.629

8. Bradley Smith (Great Britain) Yamaha +18.652

9. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati +21.160

10. Scott Redding (Great Britain) Ducati +24.435