MOTOGP: Lorenzo learned patience after costly crash

Jorge Lorenzo believes he has learned from his early-season MotoGP crash in the Argentinian Grand Prix, where he was not patient enough in the first phase of the race.

The Yamaha rider started his title defense with a victory in Qatar in March, and took the lead off the line in Argentina a fortnight later. He struggled in the low-grip conditions, though, falling out of the lead pack and then crashing out of the race.

Last Sunday, Lorenzo was second to runaway winner Marc Marquez at Austin while managing a braking issue, and feels his approach in that race would have been beneficial at Termas de Rio Hondo.

"The pity was in Argentina," he said. "A little bit with the front Michelin, a little bit with the patches of the water, I didn't have the patience to stay calm and understand that I could not win. With a little more patience I could finish in third place after the crashes of Maverick [Vinales] and the two Ducatis, like [Dani] Pedrosa did, but I was not patient enough.

"Maybe because I was used to the past conditions - that I never crash. I thought it was the same, but I just needed to be a little bit more careful to stay on the bike. Now I regret this a little bit, but it's the past, I cannot change it. Like we saw [at Austin], we can see more crashes for all of the riders, so now I've just crashed, I am going to try not to crash any more times and I'm sure I will have tracks where I feel strong enough to win and there will be my time."

Even with the Argentina DNF, but aided by other riders' crashes, Lorenzo returns to Europe second in the championship, 21 points behind Marquez.

But having been 29 behind leader Valentino Rossi this time last year, Lorenzo remains content heading to Jerez, where he started a run of four consecutive victories in 2015.

"We just are 21 points behind after the crash, and we now arrive into tracks that normally suit us better, for me and the bike," he said. "I think it's very important to stay in second place in this moment. Now that Rossi, [Andrea] Dovizioso and Pedrosa crashed [at Austin], we have one target, that is Marc, leading.

"We have the feeling that maybe in Europe we can make the difference with the Michelin and these electronics, so let's see if the theory matches with the reality."

Originally on Autosport.com