Jorge Lorenzo admits Ducati needs to find “something more” with his GP18 at Assen, namely stability, after a tricky day of MotoGP practice for the Spaniard.
The Ducati rider comes into the this weekend's Dutch TT off the back of two-successive victories at Mugello and Catalunya, which put him up to seventh in the standings on 66 points, 49 adrift of leader Marc Marquez.
Seventh quickest at the end of Friday's running, Lorenzo says the Ducati “is not very stable” through Assen's fast turns, and feels this needs to improve if he is to fight at the front.
Lorenzo also suffered a fall at Turn 9 in FP1, though he chalked this up to a medium front tyre that was “at the limit”.
“The crash of this morning was nothing big,” he said.
“Just I was with a medium front and it was quite a bit at the limit, so I just touched the white line a little bit and the front closed.
“It was a lowside crash and nothing broken. You know, we need something more on the bike, the bike is not very stable, especially in the fast corners.
“This track, compared to the others, probably needs a more stable bike that we are going to try tomorrow.
“So if we can improve some tenths in that area, and also improve in the last sector that I cannot find still the good lines to be faster, I think we can with the top guys.”
Teammate Andrea Dovizioso also concedes Ducati's current pace at Assen is “not enough”, though the sixth-placed Italian was pleased with the performance of his Desmosedici over race distance.
“It was a good day, I expected a good speed but it was even better,” said Dovizioso.
“I'm really happy about the afternoon [session], the pace for the race. We tried the hard rear and it was quite good, but I think we have to work still in a few areas.
“A lot of riders have a good pace, so still it is not enough, what we did today. But the feeling was good, the pace was fast.
“At the end, with the new tyre, I didn't make a good laptime, there was a lot of traffic. But overall, it was a good day.”
