Lorenzo: I’ve always been a fighter

Jorge Lorenzo has insisted it’s his intention to “find some solutions” with Honda’s physical RC213V after finding some feel on Saturday at Aragon and reminded onlookers that he has “always been a fighter.”

The Majorcan was unable to qualify any higher than 19^th at Motorland Aragon after struggling to feel comfortable with the ‘soft’ front tyre that he used during his second run in Q1.

Lorenzo also felt he was “riding quite well” in FP4 and is hopeful of narrowing the margin to the race winner on Sunday to a number smaller than his deficit at Misano (47 seconds).

“Well finally the position was the same as yesterday, but I feel better on the bike, quicker. In FP4 finally we put more-or-less the setting I feel better and I was not so bad. I was not extremely quick but I was constant and feeling I could flow a little bit with the bike.

“So I was quite happy. I was happy also with my lap time with the first tyre in qualifying. I saved the front soft for the second run, expecting I would have something more in the corners, but actually it was the opposite and I felt worse than with the medium front.

“That's why I think tomorrow my choice will be the medium and probably I will have something more than the last lap in FP4. So hopefully I can go into mid-'50s for the race pace. Obviously we are very far from Marc, even from the second group, but it's the situation that we have and for the moment I cannot do so much more.

“It's better not to have so many expectations because you can be disappointed if it doesn't happen. I feel better physically. I feel that every time after riding the bike I struggle less to recover. So that's positive.

“As I told you, in FP4 I was riding quite well compared to the previous races and hopefully with this medium tyre in the race I can make a little step. So maybe with this and if the race is not very fast I can be close to that goal and beat the 47-seconds in Misano.”

Considering his current struggles, can Lorenzo relate to Johann Zarco’s fallout with KTM? “Well I think he suffered a lot the change from an easy bike or a friendly bike like Yamaha to a difficult bike like believe or I think is the KTM,” he said.

“When you get used to the Yamaha it's always difficult to jump onto a very different bike. So he lose a little bit the patience, he lose the motivation, he was not happy. So in my opinion it was a courageous decision to forget about the contract and all the benefits that he has and just stop.

“It's true that in the last races he was faster and closer to Pol for example. But he took the decision, he was not happy anyway, so we have to respect his decision. I think it's brave, but intelligent or not, I don’t know.”

“[In my situation] I'm struggling a lot. It's not easy situation. Obviously I'm much less happy in the races than my time with Yamaha when I was winning races or last year that I was winning races with Ducati.

“A competitive rider cannot be happy finishing so behind. But I've always been a fighter and I want to try to find some solution with this bike and try my best.”

And regarding the rumours on his future? “As I told you a lot of people ask me this question and I say in my mind for this moment the give-up possibility doesn't appear in my mind and I have a two-year contract with Honda. So for the moment I want to keep and let's see if we can improve in these races.”