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Jorge Lorenzo says he had to “completely change” his riding style throughout the Mugello MotoGP weekend to secure his first victory with Ducati.
Lorenzo took until his 24th start with Ducati to score his first win with the Desmosedici bike, dominating the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.
The three-time MotoGP world champion attributed his breakthrough to the updates Ducati brought to Jerez and a fuel tank tweak made for Mugello – but also said the win required a different way of riding.
“I feel better than ever with this bike – physically I have more energy to keep a more constant pace during more laps with this modification of the fuel tank,” Lorenzo said.
“But I was very worried about the front tyre. Because maybe some [rival] bikes destroy the front tyre less, and this should be an advantage for them.
“So I just changed completely my riding style, to save this front tyre – probably I did the biggest change of riding style from the practice to the race of all my life.
“And this works a lot, because after the race I looked at the front tyre and it was much better than I expected.
“I used the mind, I was really focused, no mistakes, and I could have enough energy to keep pushing till the last lap.”
Lorenzo ran the medium front in the 23-lap race and took the chequered flag more than six seconds ahead of runner-up Andrea Dovizioso and third-placed Valentino Rossi, who both used the hard front.
Many riders experienced severe tyre drop-off at Mugello and, despite lapping in the 1m48s margin for all but the three final laps, Lorenzo said he was no different.
“I also got tyre problems. If not, I would be in 1m47.5s and not in 1m48.2s.
“Obviously the track was very bad, very slippery after the Moto2 race. And everyone was having problems.”