Jorge Lorenzo believes he is “closer probably more than ever” to front in MotoGP on his Honda, after qualifying just 0.616s from pole in 11th in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.
Lorenzo advanced directly into Q2 from FP3 and equalled his best Saturday result of the season of 11th during Jerez qualifying, after positing a lap of 1:37.496s.
However, a crash at Turn 2 with just under four minutes remaining stopped him from mounting a challenge for the top 10 on the grid, and admits starting from the fourth row is “not very comfortable”.
Despite the lowly grid slot, Lorenzo says his race pace is better than it was at the previous two rounds, and feels he has significantly reduced his deficit to the frontrunners for the first time in his debut Honda campaign.
“We used the hard front tyre, [it] was OK,” said Lorenzo, when asked about his qualifying.
“I pushed quite a lot in the first run, [but] I couldn't be faster. On the second run I tried to be a little bit more aggressive on braking and the front just close and I crash.
“For sure it's not very comfortable to start from fourth row. I would prefer to start in first row, second row.
“But it's the position we will start. We need to make a sensible start to not lose any more positions, and I think the pace is much better than Argentina and Austin.
“Everyone is very close, everyone is very fast. But we are not so far. We are closer probably more than ever this year to the fastest guys.”
Lorenzo currently sits 17th in the standings after a tough opening three races to his first season in Honda colours, which has largely been affected by a pre-season wrist injury.
His best result so far was a 12th in the Argentine Grand Prix, and he managed 12th in Qatar, while a technical issue forced him to pull out of the Americas Grand Prix midway through.
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