Jorge Lorenzo says he dropped to the back of the field at the start of the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix because he “unconsciously” activated the pit limiter.
The Honda rider qualified 11th having made it directly to Q2 on Saturday, but was demoted to 12th for exceeding track limits on his best lap.
Accidentally hitting his RC213V's pit limiter at the start of the 25-lap race, Lorenzo plummeted to the back of the field, but recovered to finish a place higher than his Honda debut in Qatar in 12th.
“First of all, even if I am not happy with the result, I want to congratulate my team to [win] the race with such a big advantage – Marc [Marquez] has been fantastic,” he began.
“But obviously, about my race I cannot be close to happy because the position is disappointing, and especially because – like in Qatar – again happened some very strange things.
“Some very unlucky things, like for example, I pressed unconsciously the pit limiter at the start and the bike did not go.
“When I understood what happened, everyone had overtaken me and I took up last position.”
Lorenzo suffered more misfortune as he began to rise up through the field, as the rubber cover on one of his handlebars came off, making it “difficult to be competitive.”
He also acknowledged he was lucky to finish in 12th due to the collision between Yamaha duo Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli – on the Sepang Racing-run M1 – on the final lap.
“When I start recovering [positions], the rubber of my left handlebar disappeared and I had to race with [my hand] directly on the metal of the hand lever,” he added.
“So, [I had] no grip and [it was] difficult to be competitive, difficult to finish the race like this.
“But the thing is, we finished. We've been lucky with the crashes of Vinales and Morbidelli to get two more points.
“It's the only positives: no injuries, no crashes, some more points. But I cannot be happy.”
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