Lorenzo: Assen qualifying was like “riding on ice or on eggs”

Lorenzo could only lap Assen’s TT circuit 2.651s off the pace of pole-winner Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati.

“In the dry, maybe I wasn’t as competitive as the other races, but I could finish in the top five or six,” said Lorenzo. “In Free Practice 4 I wasn’t really bad, I just missed some confidence in the front on the right corners, we put more weight into the front to solve this problem. But we didn’t solve it, we created much more spinning on the rear.

“The confidence in full wet was not good in any place, in braking, middle of the corner or acceleration. So it was like riding on ice or on eggs.

“I tried to keep on the same tyres to see if I gained, and with the dry line I improved but everyone else improved so much. For example, Rossi was very clever to put a new hard rear – he improved 4s when he was not very comfortable on the same tyre as me.

“At least in FP4 I had some rear grip, in qualifying I didn’t feel comfortable in any parts of the track. The track was much colder than yesterday. It felt easy to crash."

Lorenzo crashed in FP3 using his updated frame, and reverted back to the standard for qualifying – but did not blame that for his shunt.

“It was a crash because the medium front tyre was too hard for the conditions at that moment,” said Lorenzo. “For qualifying we put the standard [frame] in.”

Admits to wet-weather struggles

Lorenzo has struggled in the wet at Assen in previous years, and had admitted that he generally toils compared to his rivals in low-grip conditions.

“For sure, it worries me a little bit more not to be competitive in the rain,” said Lorenzo. “If there’s too much rain or the track is too slippery or the tyres are too hard for the track grip. If I don’t trust the tyres, it’s difficult for me to be competitive, no? It’s not an easy bike in these conditions, and I need to feel safe to be faster.

“Today I felt very, very far from the top guys.

“Never have I been one of the fastest riders in the rain. But in somewhere like Malaysia, where it’s grippy in the rain, I can be one or 1.5 seconds faster than everyone. But here, when I don’t trust the tyres, it’s not the ideal situation for me. I need to try and do something. Even if it’s impossible to increase the front grip, let’s see if we can improve the rear.”

When asked of his race chances, he replied: “It depends on the conditions. If you have a good pace, you will recover. If you don’t, you will stay where you are or lose positions. I make good starts, so let’s see if I can overtake maybe one or two rows from the start and stay with the first group.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont