Jorge Lorenzo was delighted to top the opening day of the German MotoGP at the Sachsenring, although he is under no illusions that Marc Marquez remains favourite for this Sunday’s race.

The Spaniard has been rejuvenated since getting the modifications to his Ducati GP18 back in Mugello and continued that good form today. The only man to lap in the 1:20’s and ended the day a quarter of a second faster than second placed Danilo Petrucci.

"It has been great.  I’m very happy about today because we made a huge improvement from the morning to the afternoon in terms of working on the bike," explained Lorenzo. "I feel much better than last year honestly.

"Obviously the weather is helping with the consistency with one temperature to work on the bike. So a very good day, lets see tomorrow. It’s true that Marquez here is the favourite and he didn’t a new tyre so we have to see which lap time he can make tomorrow but I think we are much closer than last year."

Lorenzo ended the opening session of the weekend eighth fastest nearly a second off of Iannone’s fastest time. When asked what he changed, he remained coy and said he needed to keep it a secret.

"Some things we changed on the bike, but I cannot tell, because were keeping it secret," he said. "We are working well and in a good way."

After struggling to eleventh place last year, Lorenzo said that a podium is a genuine target for this weekend and even mentioned fighting for victory, although acknowledged the task in hand would be a tough one.

"I hope tomorrow we keep the sun and on Sunday I think we have a good opportunity to fight for the podium," said Lorenzo.

"Victory is not impossible, it’s difficult because Marc is so strong but I think we can make a better result than last year for sure."