MotoGP Australia: Fastest Lorenzo unhurt in 'violent' fall
Jorge Lorenzo ended the day fastest in Philip Island, but a
strange crash on the new asymmetric front tyre left him unsure about his
potential for Sunday's Australian MotoGP.
Lorenzo's crash saw him fold the front under braking into the hairpin while still upright. Pol Espargaro also suffered a similar fall.
“I didn't expect the crash because I was braking more or
less at the same point with similar pressure as the previous laps but
suddenly, without any warning, the front tyre closed," Lorenzo said.
"Within one tenth of a second I was in the gravel. It was quite a violent crash, but luckily it wasn't so hard that I got injured. My leathers are completely destroyed, but I am ok, which is the most important thing. I think the asymmetrical front tyre was too hard for these cold conditions.
"In the cold temperatures the extra soft front is better but if tomorrow the weather is hotter than maybe the asymmetric can work," Lorenzo explained.
"The [medium] rear tyre is much worse than last year and much less grippy. For one lap or for maybe ten laps it is one second slower because everything is harder so it can survive more laps, but obviously the race pace will be much slower."
Having been among of the riders invited by Bridgestone to test in Philip Island earlier in the year, Lorenzo was well placed to compare the rubber this weekend with some of the other tyres at that test:
"It's a combination of the tyres that we used in the test. Some of those tyres were half a second slower than the race from last year, but at the end of the longer simulations it was already destroyed and that is why Bridgestone have brought a tyre even harder than the hardest that we had at the test and that is why it's one second slower than last year."
Bridgestone were caught out by the new asphalt last year, forcing a reduction in race distance and then a mid-race bike swap tyre to avoid over stressing the tyres.
Lorenzo's crash saw him fold the front under braking into the hairpin while still upright. Pol Espargaro also suffered a similar fall.
"Within one tenth of a second I was in the gravel. It was quite a violent crash, but luckily it wasn't so hard that I got injured. My leathers are completely destroyed, but I am ok, which is the most important thing. I think the asymmetrical front tyre was too hard for these cold conditions.
"In the cold temperatures the extra soft front is better but if tomorrow the weather is hotter than maybe the asymmetric can work," Lorenzo explained.
"The [medium] rear tyre is much worse than last year and much less grippy. For one lap or for maybe ten laps it is one second slower because everything is harder so it can survive more laps, but obviously the race pace will be much slower."
Having been among of the riders invited by Bridgestone to test in Philip Island earlier in the year, Lorenzo was well placed to compare the rubber this weekend with some of the other tyres at that test:
"It's a combination of the tyres that we used in the test. Some of those tyres were half a second slower than the race from last year, but at the end of the longer simulations it was already destroyed and that is why Bridgestone have brought a tyre even harder than the hardest that we had at the test and that is why it's one second slower than last year."
Bridgestone were caught out by the new asphalt last year, forcing a reduction in race distance and then a mid-race bike swap tyre to avoid over stressing the tyres.
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