Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo thinks that bagging even a second-row start for Sunday’s Qatar MotoGP race could be difficult as so many riders are using their soft-option tyres to good effect.
The former world champion could only muster eighth on the combined free practice timesheets but said that some electronics issues had caused trouble in the third session which had still not been solved.
“It was difficult today, but I feel great on the bike with the soft tyre. We also tried the harder tyre, which is very consistent. I could maybe do around a hundred laps of 1’56.1 on it, but this is too slow, so, for the moment, I prefer the soft option,” said the Spaniard.
“We found some problems with the electronics this afternoon that were a little strange. We need to investigate what’s going on. We’ll keep working to increase our pace to a high 1’54, which is our goal. It will be a hard fight for the front row tomorrow, because many riders have the extra soft tyre, that gives them four-tenths of a second.
“They are also stronger than last year, so it will even be difficult to get a position on the second row, but you never know what will happen. Maybe we can find something that will give us half a second and even let us fight for pole position.”
