Crash.net crashnet

Lorenzo: It's not mine yet.

Sun 18 Nov, 06:17 AM


Reigning double 250cc world champion Jorge Lorenzo is yet to get comfortable with his Fiat Yamaha M1 - and isn't pleased with his current position on the timesheets.

Lorenzo, who made his official Yamaha debut at the Valencia test, finished the following Sepang test seventh out of the ten MotoGP riders present - but with a lap time was set on a qualifying tyre.

Jorge was only ninth fastest, 0.5secs ahead of grand prix rookie James Toseland, on race tyres.

"It is not easy to improve on this bike because I still haven't adapted to it yet," the Spaniard told Crash.net. "I don't feel that the bike is mine. The biggest problem we have is braking; I have to brake very early at the moment.

"Today [the final day in Sepang] we have improved a lot, but we are still a long way from the other riders.

"We'll see what happens with the new bike, in January, and if it works better than the last one or not," added Lorenzo, who rode an early version of the '08 M1 during day two.

"The main use of this test has been to collect information regarding the needs of Jorge as we try to make him as comfortable as possible on our bike," stated team manager Daniele Romagnoli. "We have tried to move his position on the bike slightly further back and we have made some changes here, but we are now waiting for some new parts for the future which we think will improve his position further. Overall we've improved his braking points and his feeling going into the corners; this is an ongoing process and we will continue to work on it over the next tests."

Lorenzo will be back out on track at Jerez from November 27-29.