Rossi: At Ducati, Lorenzo needed time…

Valentino Rossi says any rider adapting to racing for Ducati needs time to adjust in order to win MotoGP races after seeing Jorge Lorenzo secure a long-awaited maiden win for the Italian manufacturer.

The Movistar Yamaha rider, who left the team to switch to Ducati in 2011, says he expected Lorenzo to find success with the Italian squad despite spending his entire MotoGP career with Yamaha before facing the tough challenge of adapting to a new team and a new philosophy.

But with Lorenzo looking set to leave Ducati at the end of this year after just two seasons, the same stretch as Rossi before he returned to Yamaha, the nine-time world champion feels any rider needs to be given more time to adjust to the team.

“It is difficult to say you don’t expect Jorge to win because he is one of the top riders,” Rossi said. “The procedure to win with the Ducati is difficult and you need time because it is a very different bike compared to the Yamaha.

“When Jorge started in MotoGP he had been with Yamaha for a long, long time so it is not easy.

“Some weekends he has been strong in practice but yesterday I saw the timesheets and these [lap] times would be difficult as he had a good pace and is able to be fast with the soft front tyre. I expected he could do a good race.”

Rossi started the Italian MotoGP race weekend laughing off suggestions he’d block Lorenzo’s possible return to Yamaha with an independent team.

Lorenzo confirmed he would be riding “a different bike for the next two years” following his victory for Ducati at Mugello as he looks set to leave the Italian manufacturer after just two years.

The Spaniard has been linked with a satellite Yamaha team, run by SIC which has backing from Petronas, but any team will require 2019 MotoGP grid slots.