PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV. 9 – Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo is not comfortable in the wet, making today’s conditions at the Spanish Grand Prix in Valencia his worst nightmare. Light rain at different parts of the track made it part wet, mostly dry and difficult to tell how wet it was.
Once it started raining Lorenzo started dropping back, and together with Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, pulled in with nine laps to go to switch bikes for the wet. They were the only two to do so and the gamble backfired for both.
“I didn’t have confidence,” Lorenzo explained his decision. “I didn’t know if the next corner was more water than the previous lap. I had some difficult moments. I almost crashed. I was slower than the rest of the riders with more confidence in these conditions. This time [as opposed to Aragon] the water didn’t help us to make a good race.”
Lorenzo didn’t get off to a terrible start (in fourth), but he felt that it wasn’t enough to allow him to ride more comfortably. And when it started raining, it took the turn for the worse.
“The key was the start,” Lorenzo said. “If I could overtake one or two riders in third or second place I could be more relaxed, ride better. But with the bad position, with this dropping [light rain] I didn’t have confidence. When it started dropping more I didn’t have the feeling to be as fast as the other riders. And when I decided to stop was losing more and more time.”
When the gamble didn’t pay off Lorenzo decided to pull in with five laps to go.
“My objective was to win the race,” Lorenzo explained. “Because I couldn’t win the race I decided to stop. Just to play the last card and if in this moment the rain was more and was completely wet, probably we would win the race. I just have this chance to try and win the race and get the points.”
It was a reversal of fortune from Aragon where he pulled in and won the race and Marquez stayed out and ended up on the ground.
“Similar,” Lorenzo said about the situation. “In Aragon I knew was lot of rain and I was already going slower than on the wet. Here I needed more luck than Aragon. But was my only chance because Marquez was already gone. Because my lack of confidence in the dropping moments.”
