Lorenzo: Not easy in this situation

Jorge Lorenzo fears he is in for a difficult, and painful, inaugural MotoGP in Thailand this weekend.

Fastest at this year's opening Sepang test, Lorenzo suffered a nightmare at the Buriram circuit back in February - struggling for comfort on the Ducati GP18 and even commandeering last year's GP17 from the Pramac garage as he finished the test in 16th place.

The uncertainty caused by the Buriram outing in turn delayed Lorenzo's evaluation of the various GP18 chassis options, until a base set-up was in place. It would take the triple MotoGP champion until Jerez in May to return to the kind of speed and confidence seen at the Sepang test.

Lorenzo then went on to claim his first Ducati wins at Mugello and Catalunya, but it wasn't until Brno in August that he got chance to put serious laps on the alternative GP18 chassis.

But Lorenzo's biggest concern going into the Thailand race weekend is physical rather than technical, after suffering foot injuries in a turn one highside last time at Aragon.

The #99 suffered a dislocated big right toe and compound fracture of the second metatarsal when his rear tyre broke traction as he over-eagerly got on the throttle after a 'block pass' by Marc Marquez.

"The crash at Aragón not only ruined my race, but it could also compromise this weekend’s at Buriram," Lorenzo said.

"I’m not yet 100%, my foot is still very swollen and I don’t know how much pain I’ll feel and even if I’ll be able to put my boot on, but I want to try and race here in Thailand.

"I’m still disappointed because expectations were high at MotorLand, but now I can’t do anything but try and give my utmost in the five remaining races.

"We must think positively and even though the pre-championship test here at Buriram didn’t go very well for me, the situation has changed a lot over the season.

"On Friday morning we’ll get a better idea of my condition and if I’ll be able to ride, even though it’s not going to be easy for me to be competitive in this situation.”

The Aragon accident, Lorenzo's second DNF in a row, means he is now 44 points behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso in the fight for second in the world championship and top Ducati rider.