Yamaha boss Wilco Zeelenberg says Jorge Lorenzo’s tyre choice was wrong at Brno – MotoGP news
Yamaha Factory Racing boss Wilco Zeelenberg has explained that a soft compound tyre for the Brno GP was a wrong choice by Jorge Lorenzo.
Defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo chose to race with softer compound unlike other rivals who opted for hard slicks. Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista was the only other rider to choose a softer version.
Zeelenberg said, “We know the Brno track is hard on the front and as soon as you hear the rider wants to have the softest option, you have some doubt. You want to know if it will hold for the race and Bridgestone said yes. It did because our soft tyre looked
better than the hard one Ben (Spies) had at the end of the race.”
The Yamaha team boss also explained the comparative condition between hard and soft compounds. Zeelenberg said that the soft compound tyre was in better condition after the race than the hard compound tyre that was used by other Yamaha rider Ben Spies.
On the other hand, the disadvantage of the soft slick was that it gave less traction under breaking and hampered the turning speed. Considering the qualifying round the situation was different, which let Lorenzo to choose soft tyre.
Zeelenberg added, “That’s racing and sometimes it is not as obvious as you think it should be. We are racing with a bunch of guys with a lot of experience and normally we choose exactly the right spot.”
In previous races, the Yamaha factory riders have made the right decisions every time, but this time it cost Lorenzo to lose precious points in the championship. To further testify the tyres the team used same slicks during the post race test at Brno. It
proved to be the key to failure in the race.
At a point when only one rider on the grid has different choice than others, it is important to think whether it will work or not.
However, after a disappointing race day at Brno, Lorenzo is 32 points adrift of Casey Stoner and looks ahead to the Indy GP to close the gap from Aussie.
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