Lorenzo has only six-points to his name while Dovi leads championship
Jorge Lorenzo has had a shocker of a start to the season. With only six-points to his name the Spaniard is currently 16th in the MotoGP Championship chase. Following on from the first three overseas rounds of the season, the Ducati Team has now arrived in Spain, where the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship will be held on Sunday at Jerez.
Jerez, however has always proved to be a happy hunting-ground for Lorenzo, who celebrates his 31st birthday on Friday. In ten races at Jerez the Spanish rider has been on the podium eight times, winning the Spanish GP in 2010, in 2011 and in 2015. Last year Jorge scored his first podium for Ducati with a third-place finish.
Jorge Lorenzo
“After the difficult race at Austin it’s now time to change the situation and I come to Spain determined to do well. The Jerez circuit is one of my favourite tracks and I’ve got some good memories here, including my first podium for Ducati last year. I think it is the right circuit to begin to reverse the early season trend and it will be important to begin well on Friday and see what the track surface is like with the new asphalt. We’re working hard and we must continue to think positively. I don’t intend to give in.”
Andrea Dovizioso comes to the Spanish track leading the championship but the Jerez circuit has never provided him with great results. Until now the best result for the Italian rider at Jerez has been a fifth place, which he obtained three times: in 2012, in 2014 and last year.
Andrea Dovizioso
“We come to the first European round of the season first in the standings, a situation that is clearly much better than last year, and this is certainly positive. We managed the first three rounds well, but we could also see that our rivals are all really fast. In November last year we did a good test at the Jerez circuit and the new asphalt had good grip, but it was colder then so we will have to wait for Friday to get a better idea of the track conditions.”
Gran Premio Red Bull de Espana
Jerez MotoGP 2018 Schedule – AEST
- Friday
- Moto3 FP1 – 17:00
- MotoGP FP2 – 17:55
- Moto2 FP1 – 18:55
- Moto3 FP2 – 21:10
- MotoGP FP2 – 22:05
- Moto2 FP2 – 23:05
- Saturday
- Moto3 FP3 – 17:00
- MotoGP FP3 – 17:55
- Moto2 FP3 – 18:55
- Moto3 QP – 20:35
- MotoGP FP4 – 21:30
- MotoGP Q1 – 22:10
- MotoGP Q2 – 22:35
- Moto2 QP – 23:05
- Sunday
- Moto3 WUP – 16:40
- Moto2 WUP – 17:10
- MotoGP WUP – 17:40
- Moto3 Race – 19:00
- Moto2 Race – 20:20
- MotoGP Race – 22:00
MotoGP Championship Standings following COTA
- Andrea DOVIZIOSO – ITA 46
- Marc MARQUEZ – SPA 45
- Maverick VIÑALES – SPA 41
- Cal CRUTCHLOW – GBR 38
- Johann ZARCO – FRA 38
- Andrea IANNONE – ITA 31
- Valentino ROSSI – ITA 29
- Jack MILLER – AUS 26
- Tito RABAT – SPA 22
- Danilo PETRUCCI – ITA 21
- Dani PEDROSA – SPA 18
- Alex RINS – SPA 16
- Hafizh SYAHRIN – MAL 9
- Pol ESPARGARO – SPA 8
- Aleix ESPARGARO – SPA 6
- Jorge LORENZO – SPA 6
- Franco MORBIDELLI – ITA 6
- Takaaki NAKAGAMI – JPN 5
- Scott REDDING – GBR 4
- Alvaro BAUTISTA – SPA 4
- Karel ABRAHAM – CZE 1
