Saturday, February 7, 2009

Lorenzo admits he's struggling to adapt

Lorenzo admits hes struggling to adapt

Jorge Lorenzo admitted he was struggling to get up to speed with the latest Yamaha after again trailing teammate Valentino Rossi in Sepang testing.

The Spaniard has been 10th-fastest on both days of the test so far - two seconds slower than Rossi on Thursday and 1.5 adrift today.

He blamed his lack of day one pace on poor physical condition after the winter break, but today Lorenzo acknowledged that he hadn't got to grips with the 2009 Yamaha and the now mandatory Bridgestone tyres.

"Today was still quite difficult, although I am improving slowly," he said.

"On this second day we have worked on our braking, because we have seen that Valentino is braking sooner than me and so I need to adapt. I need to use the hours we have and the available tyres in the best way possible, but that's the same for everybody.

"My main problems at the moment are the braking and the corner speed. Right now I don't feel at one with the bike and this means I don't have the confidence to ride fast."

Lorenzo thinks part of the problem is that he spent last season on Michelins, but he noted that Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards - who is also acclimatising to Bridgestones - has outpaced him too.

"I know I can be faster than this because my bike isn't much different to Valentino's and he is quicker than me," said Lorenzo.

"Of course he was using Bridgestones last year as well and I am new to them, but Colin is also fast so this shows how competitive the bike is.

"Today we didn't find the solution, but we still have tomorrow left. The aim will be for me to try to adapt, and not to change too many things on the bike. If I can improve a bit, then maybe we will try a long run."

Lorenzo's team manager Daniele Romagnoli believes the best solution is for the Spaniard to keep trying to adapt to the bike rather than altering the set-up.

"We have tried some different settings without finding the solution to our problems, so for tomorrow we will keep the best Yamaha base setting and give Jorge some more time to adapt to the bike and tyres," he said.



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