Two weeks after his Silverstone pole, Jorge Lorenzo has done it once again at the Misano Adriatico circuit by setting a new outright track record during the second qualifying session. His time of 1:31.629min means the Spanish rider has now set three poles this season, taking the Ducati Team up to a total of 40 pole positions in the Italian manufacturer’s history in MotoGP.
“I’m very pleased and proud of this second successive pole position, my third of the season”, Lorenzo said
“It confirms that we are working really well, that we’ve improved a lot of details and now we have at our disposal a competitive bike that allows us to set times like the one today at Misano.”
“I was already impressed by the time set on my first run with the medium tyre, and I was in doubt whether or not to also try the soft one, but in the end we fitted it on my third run and I was able to get my time down even more and set the new track record. As well as my good feelings, I think that tomorrow’s race will be a really tough and physical battle and it will be important to make the right choice of tyres to be fast and consistent.”
Jack Miller took second for the Alma Pramac Racing team
“I’m very happy for this result. We did a great job with the team and today the feeling was very good. Tomorrow it will be a very demanding race but we have great confidence”, he commented.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales put in his best lap of the weekend so far when it counted most
His strong final lap earned him a front row start at tomorrow’s race.
“It’s nice to be back and have the chance to start the race from the front row. I think we began the weekend really well, so we have a good rhythm for tomorrow and the bike is working well. We need to make some adjustments in a few areas, but I’m really happy, honestly. The work we’ve done since the Misano test is helping, I feel better with the bike. I think my lap time today could have been a little bit faster because on the first tyre I didn’t feel so great, it was very slippery. This gave me less confidence for the second tyre, but I’m actually pleased”, he explained.
“I did my best lap on the third try and we still have some room for improvement for tomorrow. I haven’t decided on a race tyre yet, let’s see tomorrow. The soft or the medium, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m fast on both, so that’s something pretty important. Another thing is that the team is working good and I actually feel really grateful because we got the feeling back again. I can push on the bike and they are understanding my feelings, and that’s great.”
Here’s the grid for #MotoGP ⏱@lorenzo99 takes his first back-to-back premier class poles since 2013!#SanMarinoGP ?? pic.twitter.com/4i5kmYOWWt
— MotoGP™??? (@MotoGP) September 8, 2018
