Jorge Lorenzo caught out by chaotic conditions at Misano

Jorge Lorenzo had a lightning fast start from pole position at Misano today as the lights went out, and grabbed the holeshot. With a clear track in front of him, he tried to shake off rival Marquez and teammate Rossi and put the hammer down, consistently lowering his times. Lapping in the low 1‘33s he opened up a nearly one second gap, until the rain flags were being waved on lap six.

As the pace dropped noticeably, the leading trio decided to come in on lap seven and Lorenzo rejoined the track in fifth place, ahead of Marquez. As the race order was restored one lap later, the Majorcan was clever to ride behind Marquez while testing the conditions, until his rival went wide and he reclaimed the lead.

Lorenzo continued to give his all but had to let his teammate pass on lap 15 when his wet tyres started to drop on the drying asphalt. Rubber was flying off Lorenzo‘s front tyre as he came in with eight laps to go and he reentered the race in fourth place. He was motivated to make his way back to the front and pushed hard, but got caught out by the tricky conditions in turn 15 and was unable to continue the race.

JORGE LORENZO
Two races with bad luck in a row, because the circumstances were wet and abnormal. In Silverstone I didn‘t have the confidence and here I didn‘t have the pace to warm up the tyre well, so I entered the corner with slicks that were still cold and lost the rear. I think I‘ve been unlucky this year in general, but especially these last two races, because I could have won both or finished second, but that‘s racing. In previous years, my rivals in the championship crashed and this year it‘s me who‘s unlucky, but all is not lost. If I win all the coming races I can still become the World Champion and it wouldn‘t matter in what position Valentino would finish in.

Source: Yamaha Racing