If
James Toseland thought he had a bad day at
Donington Park, falling twice on his way to career-worst 16th on the grid, fellow Michelin-shod (factory) Yamaha rookie
Jorge Lorenzo faired even worse.
The Estoril race winner, making his return to action after being ruled out of the recent Catalan event due to the latest in a string of accidents, intended to rebuild his confidence this weekend - but never looked comfortable in a wet-but-slowly-drying qualifying session and will start 17th on the 18-rider grid.
It's a "bad time" for the reigning double 250cc world champion, but he's trying to remain patient.
“This morning I was riding quite well [ninth fastest] but in the afternoon the track changed; it dried out a bit and it became more difficult for me," explained the Fiat Yamaha rider. "I improved by three seconds but it wasn't enough because the others improved by six or seven seconds! I've never started so far back in
MotoGP and it's a very different experience for me.
"I would have liked to have done one more session in the dry conditions but it hasn't been possible, and now I must be very focused tomorrow. For me it will be a success to finish the race, because for sure it's better to finish than to crash! We have to keep going step-by-step and then I know that we can improve in Assen.
"Yesterday we made a mistake because we wanted to change a lot of things on the bike but in fact the problem was me; this is a bad time for me but I can't let it get me down because I know this will pass and that sooner or later things will be better," he added.
