Well,well,well. He put it 2nd on the grid. You can't knock him for that but what's taken him 18 months? He's been a good starter of late. I'll bet he's out front from the start but will the new tank help him stay there? How many laps do you think he'll stay up front for? It would be ironic if he turns in a good result and announces he's back off to Yamaha.
New fuel tank apparently, shape that better suits his riding style and makes the bike easier to ride/less tiring.
So it looks like things are developing in that Rea definitely isn't going to Honda. Ref the talk of Stoner, it is true that in the last year of him being there he was progressively having more and more crashes all caused by the front end and had become concerned. I don't think it was as simple as the carbon frame being the issue though, else they would have fixed it quickly when they went back to aluminium. I think Ducati just lost there way and developed the engine to have mounts in the wrong place etc and then it takes loads of time to develop back from. Will see what happens today, I suspect if Lorenzo can get the start and get into a rhythm he will be hard to pass for the first 6-8 laps, but if I'm honest I feel like the field will expect him to fade and so won't be too bothered to sit behind him for half race distance and save some fuel on the straights! Lorenzo's laptimes at the end of the race in LeMan were within a tenth of two of the start of the race, where he lost out was a period in the middle where is pace dropped by 1second a lap. This lends more to the theory that he gets flustered and looses his focus when getting beaten up. Will see if that's just a Ducati thing or whether he can recover it on the Suzuki next year.
Well, like I said, maybe the recent changes that will help his mid to late race pace will improve results. I think the perception that he "gives up" once he's been passed at the front, could be a little wide of the mark and there is an underlying issue.
1 win in over 20 races, on a circuit both he and that bike love? Personally, I still think he's history as the next few races he'll revert to type, but you never know? He may have found something that works on more tracks but time will tell. My best guess is he's out the door.
Lorenzo said we'd know by Catalunya, but in Le Mans, Ducati said we'd know by Mugello ? Personally, I'd like to see Petrux on it, as I think George has had his chance time and time again.
I agree... Mr Whippy has been given a long,long time to perform,but is Petrux ready as a title winner yetcan he step up
