The odd man out
Lorenzo on changing fortunes
What would have happened if Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati had fixed the GP18’s ergonomics before the start of the season? Because as soon as Ducati adapted the bike to fit the Spaniard he went from nowhere man to double winner and then victory contender at pretty much every race. Until he got injured; twice, at Aragon and Buriram. Lorenzo’s 2018 season was his strangest yet. And not only from a machinery point of view. During the first part of the championship he didn’t feel good on the GP18. He didn’t make it into the top ten once at the first four races, then he won rounds six and seven. It was quite a turnaround and probably the first time such a transformation has been achieved by adding a lump of plastic to the back of the fuel tank. “The GP18 fuel tank was lower and a different shape, so I had less support during braking and ran out of energy during races,” Lorenzo explains. “We got some new parts at Jerez, then tried a slightly different tank at the Barcelona tests [after June’s Catalan GP] before something bigger arrived at Mugello.” Lorenzo was ecstatic when he won at Mugello. Two days later he dropped the bombshell: he’d leave Ducati at the end of the season to join Honda. At the very moment he had got the Desmo working, he was off. Brave, orwhat?
The fallout between rider and factory was a matter between Lorenzo and upper management within Ducati. After Le Mans, the race before Mugello, Lorenzo guessed that Ducati weren’t going to renew his contract for 2019, so he called HRC team manager Alberto Puig and did the deal. Even so, he kept pushing to win the title with Ducati. He believed he still had an outside chance of overtaking Marc Marquez, if the Desmosedici’s number one problem could be fixed. “If we can improve our corner speed so that we have the same corner speed as the Honda, while keeping our acceleration and braking performance, then we will win every race,” he said on the eve of his superb defeat of Marquez at the Red Bull Ring. “If we can do this and I don’t make a mistake, then Ducati will win the championship.”
Ducati couldn’t improve the corner speed in time, but there’s no doubt that Lorenzo did improve the bike during his two seasons with the Bologna factory. At the same time he proved he’s a very adaptable rider.
“I spent more than a year trying to lean the Ducati more and more, but the more I leaned the slower I was,” he explains. “Instead you need to make the lap time by taking advantage of the bike’s stability:reach the apex as soon as possible, stay leant over for the shortest time, then use all the acceleration. You have to use a lot of rear brake, especially in corner entry, because if both wheels are in line and not sliding, the bike wants to go into the gravel. You need to steer it like a boat.” Lorenzo isn’t sure if Honda’s RC213V will be easier to ride than the Ducati, but HRCrider Cal Crutchlow is certain. “He’s going to have the shock of his life,” says the Briton. “He is living in a dream world if he thinks the Honda turns easier than the Ducati. William Hill are already taking bets.”