Beleaguered Jorge Lorenzo form ‘worse than expected’ in Misano

Jorge Lorenzo has admitted his performance during the San Marino MotoGP was ‘worse than expected; after he finished a full 47 seconds behind the winner, his own Repsol Honda team-mate Marc Marquez.

The Spaniard is still on the road to recovery after sustaining a back injury in an accident at Assen in June, with the Misano event only his second event back in action.

However, while he felt he was more competitive than in Silverstone, he was disappointed to fall way short of his target for being 30secs from the leaders, crossing the line a distant 14th. 

Only Tito Rabat, Karel Abraham and Hafizh Syaharin have scored fewer points of the full-time 2019 riders, though he was forced to miss four races with injury.

“It was worse than expected. Hopefully … we can be closer to 30 seconds [behind the winner at Aragon]” 

“The positive is the distance from the fastest,” he added. “We went from one second to two seconds depending on the practice. In some sessions we were closer. In others not so much

“But I finished 47 seconds [behind]. It was worse than I expected but in general the feelings were better physically than Silverstone and I was closer to the middle of the grid and closer to the fastest [riders].

“Positive but we are going to try and make another step in Aragon just in four days. But especially I want to arrive stronger for the Asian tour.”

A painful summer for Jorge Lorenzo

Catalunya MotoGP Race

Buoyed by an improved starting position and getting a great start to run inside the top four, Lorenzo lost the front-end of his Honda at Turn 10, wiping out Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi – whilst simultaneously just missing his team-mate Marquez.

Catalunya MotoGP Test

Crashed at the fast Turn 8 left-hander, sending the Honda barrelling over the airfence and landing on top of the tyres. Suffers a lot of pain but is passed fit to compete in Assen

Assen MotoGP Free Practice

Fall heavily in free practice, with the impact across the gravel causing an injury to his spine, requiring him to wear a neck brace and keep him out of action for two months.