A surprisingly cool Jerez was warmed by the plenty of hot air as MotoGP suited-up the hospitalities and full race structures for the first time this year and at a venue that has been part of the fabric of the sport since 1987. From the moment that Yamaha Racing MD Lin Jarvis was confirmed as having a slot in the pre-event press conference the Spanish cat had scarpered from the blue bag. Predictably everyone wanted to know about Jorge Lorenzo and his two-year agreement with Ducati from 2017. The twenty-eight year old’s reasoning, Yamaha-and-Jarvis’ reaction and explanation on the severance of the nine-season union that had delivered three titles and then everybody else’s opinion on arguably the most surprising rider switch since Valentino Rossi moved from Honda to Yamaha in 2004 dominated chat during Thursday and Friday.
“It has been one of the biggest decisions of my life and career but at the moment it is still very far away,” said the World Champion himself. “I have all my attention and focus on the present. I am thinking in blue and will be trying to win the championship. The ideal thing will be to try and sort these kinds of things in the middle of the year but now my future is solved. To not have your mind focussed on a MotoGP bike can be dangerous.”
“There are many reasons [for the move] but my biggest one was motivation and the challenge to try and win with another bike,” Lorenzo added. “The challenge for me after so many years in the world championship and in MotoGP is to give my maximum effort every day – that is what I try to do and I think I am one of the most professional riders. My focus in my work is 100%; it is complete. I felt that I need this new challenge for my motivation to work as hard as I have done until now.”
Reacting to the question (and claims) that ‘99’ wanted to drift away from a domain where Valentino Rossi is possibly the most popular and more revered athlete Jorge said: “I was never worried about being the number one or number two. For me it was always enough to have exactly the same card, or tools, as my partner. I believed in my potential and that was enough. Yamaha relied on four riders to develop the bike and maybe in the future I will have more power to create the bike I want to ride.”
Ducati also held a special press conference at which their first comment was that the topic of Lorenzo and the race team for 2017 would not be discussed further beyond that same event for the rest of the season. A transcript of Gigi Dall’Inga and Paolo Ciabatti’s words can be read in the next edition of OTOR.
Numerous riders and people were canvassed for their thoughts but some revealing, honest and sensitive quotes were forthcoming from Jarvis as he spoke to the media. Here is a selection of his words…
On Lorenzo’s choice to go to Ducati: “It is like going to a discotheque and you ask a girl to dance and she choses the guy next to you. Of course we would have preferred Jorge to stay. This is our ninth season together and we have had a really good run. I was involved when Jorge came to Yamaha and when you come to the end of an era it is a sad moment for sure. I would much rather be confirming that Jorge will be here for another two years. I said to his management that the combination of Jorge, Yamaha and the M1 is a winning machine. We know what he can do and we will miss that. I spent a lot of time with Jorge. It is almost ten years since we signed him. I remember doing it in Monterrey in 2006; two years before he joined Yamaha. To have passed that entire process together through good times and bad times [means] I am personally sad as well that we won’t continue in the future.”
On the offer: “We made our best offer as a company and I think there are three factors that helped him make the decision. He probably got an extremely good proposal; probably better than ours – that was an important factor. I think the Ducati is currently a very competitive bike so it is less daunting to make a change. In addition to that I think probably to be the number one in a future team was another thing that was attractive. In Yamaha we have run Valentino and Jorge together for many years so we have the experience and, trust me, it is not easy to run with two top dogs in the same team. We have always treated them fairly and equally and we will continue to do that for the rest of the year. I believe we’ve always had a very fair relationship in all aspects; sporting but also on the human side. We have not always agreed on everything together but we have been very honest and discussed things.”
On how the team will work with Lorenzo for the next fifteen rounds and continued tests: “We have fifteen races ahead and there could not be a better way for Jorge to conclude this period with us than as champions. We will give our maximum amount of support, and equal to Valentino and will continue with development parts throughout the year but of course if we get to a moment like at Brno [test] where we bring the prototype of the 2017 bike then that’s a different story. Any part that we develop this year – that may also be used next year – will of course be available to both riders. If it is something that we will not use this year then we will restrict the information on that.”
On whether Valentino Rossi will have any say on a new teammate: “Any team always strives to have the best possible atmosphere in the garage. The more equally competitive the riders are, the more difficult it is to maintain that equilibrium and harmony. Even though I have been travelling a lot with him [Rossi] recently I have not discussed the choice of teammate with him.”
On favourite Maverick Viñales filling the spot for 2017: “Maverick has proven that he is one of the future talents of MotoGP and he has a good chance to be world champion in the future. He is an attractive rider. At this moment he is very close but at this moment, realistically, we are in discussion with the managers of many riders. It would be too premature to say if we are close or not. We have expressed our interest and there is an on-going discussion. There are other options we have as well, other riders with different profiles. Things are never as straightforward and simple as they seem and a lot of fans think that is a very simple thing and sometimes even the media, but behind the scenes it is complicated and there are lots of issues we have to take into consideration. We are busy now looking at all the candidates. We have a really good bike and a really good team so I think we have an attractive package on offer. Realistically there is no time limit. For Jorge’s proposal we had a limit on that – which I don’t think is a bad thing and it forced a situation that could have dragged on a long time. Now we will take our time and what is important is that we’ll make the right selection.”
On whether Lorenzo would be welcomed back to Yamaha:
“As many of you know we keep relationships with our ex-riders so I would not hesitate to say the door is open for Jorge in the future if he wanted to come back to Yamaha.”
On whether the aftermath of the 2015 Sepang incident would have had an affect:
“In my opinion what happened in Sepang was something very unfortunate and definitely influenced strongly the end of the last championship and certainly the mood inside the garage. Prior to Sepang we had Jorge and Valentino back together for three and a half seasons and honestly the relationship had been going very well. They remained competitors with each other but the team existed and interacted very well and freely with each other. After Sepang that changed; it is an absolute fact. Would I change the way I or Yamaha managed the situation? No, we believed that the way we managed a difficult situation was the best that we could do under those circumstances.”
On the track and there were a lot of concerned faces in the pitboxes. Pol Espargaro claimed he was ‘lost’, Maverick Viñales was frustrated, Scott Redding said: “I don’t know what to say and where to go”. Jerez was frugal with traction that hit the Ducatis hardest of all (although the Avintia duo of Hector Barbera and Loris Baz were arguably over-performing throughout the sessions) and only the front row trio of Rossi, Lorenzo and Marquez could dip into the 1min38s as they unveiled a close and unpredictably short burst for first spot on the grid. From the two days at Jerez so far it is clear that the threesome will duke out honours for victory; a spat from which the Repsol Honda man is vying for a hatrick of wins, Lorenzo his second of ’16 and Rossi his first since Silverstone.
Moto2 was the domain of Sam Lowes. The championship leader caught the eye for his sliding antics into the crucial last hairpin bend here at Jerez. “My style is quite sideways into the last corner but in Moto2 the electronic level is quite low so we have to ride however we can,” he explained. “I came from Supersport where there were a lot of electronics to help this but yeah, changing down quickly can bring quite a bit of engine braking. If I can manage this – and with the Kalex it works quite well – then I feel quite comfortable and sometimes it can help me. Into the last corner I’m quite ‘wide’ and difficult to pass so it might be useful!”
Nicolo Bulega came through his first press conference as Moto3 Pole sitter in just his fifth Grand Prix slightly nervously and with VR46 Academy honcho Rossi by his side even assisting with some Italian-English translation. The sixteen year old smiled as he said he’d keep the watch awarded for his effort as small reminder of his career landmark.
Sunny skies and mid-twenty temperatures tomorrow will muddy the Michelin waters further for MotoGP’s ongoing ‘wade’ but will reassure the thousands of fans that have already gridlocked the relatively small town of Jerez for this annual spectacle of Grand Prix.
Photo by CormacGP
