MotoGP news

Lorenzo lacking confidence at Assen

Despite an impressive ride through the field to sixth from the back of the grid at Donington just four days ago, it seems that Jorge Lorenzo's recent trials are not completely behind him and the Fiat Yamaha Team rookie underwent a difficult opening day at the Dutch TT. The Spaniard is struggling with front-end feeling but worst of all is lacking confidence and trust in his bike, and could only manage 14th in the combined standings today.

Lorenzo started off the day 11th in morning practice and hoped to improve further this afternoon. However this was not to be as he was only able to better his morning time by 0.027 seconds and slipped back through the order. With this being one of his favourite tracks he is doubly frustrated and is now hoping that a good night's sleep can result in a clearer head and a more relaxed frame of mind tomorrow. His team-mate Valentino Rossi fared better today and finished second but a gap of 0.732 seconds to Casey Stoner, in first place, means that he too has work to do tomorrow.

"It was a bad session today and I was not expecting to be so slow here, at a track that I love," Lorenzo said. "We need to do more laps in order to improve and try to find a way to change things; I am suffering a lot on the bike because I don't have enough confidence in the front. I am losing time in all areas, we know the bike can be faster but I can't find the way to ride it like this. I need to have more trust in the bike, but at the moment I think the problem is me and I am just not riding as I should be."

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