After a succeꦛssful debut test at Valencia last November, Ducati and Jorge Lorenzo expected the triple MotoGP champion to make a smoother transition to the Desmosedici.

But the team were 'penalised more than we thought' by the ban on winglets, which also con♕triജbuted to a wrong turn with Lorenzo's seating position - all of which added up to a difficult winter and forgettable opening races.

Having returned to a 'normal' Ducati riding position, Lorenzo also set about learning the rear brake.

The smooth-riding triple MotoGP champion didn't need to use the back brake at all during his nine years at Yamaha, but 🐼the Desmosedici requires an aggressive approach to braking and corner entry to ไachieve competitive lap times.

Lorenzo'𓂃s growing rear-braking technique has b⛎een credited as a significant part of his upturn in form, culminating in a first Ducati podium at Jerez.

"I'm learning how to stop the bike with the rear brake," he confir𝔉med. " It's still not natural, but sooner or later it will be because it's be🔯en nine years without using the rear brake or sliding on entry to the corners.

"It looks like I need to use ꦉit, even if the bike changes. You always have to find a way to take the maximum from a bike and every bike has a different way to be c♚ompetitive."

Reflec🌃ting on Lorenzo's six months as a Ducati rider, sporting director Paolo Ciabatti explained that the first impression given at the Valencia test - where the bike still had winglets - camouflaged the difficulties that lay ahead.

"We thought it would be a smoother transition," began the Italian, "because we didn't think we would loseꦉ so much, especially in certain situations, without the winglets.

"We felt we could cope with different solutions and instead - especially at some tracks - we've had a lot of problems with front wheelieing. ꦚThat doesn't help our bike's characteristic, which is a lot of horsepower and also in the braking area, without the downforce.

"We realised we'd been penalised more t🥃han we thought and also Jorge realised the bike was more co✅mplex than he had thought in his first test.

"At Valencia we still had the winglets and Jorge was com𒉰ing from a very 🐽successful weekend so it was a very positive first impression. But then the next time he rode the bike in Sepang he didn't have a good feeling, so he started to modify the ergonomics and try a different riding position.

"But in the end it didn't work so we came back to what is a more normal position for the Ducati and he learned how to ride a different bik🥀e using the rear brake a lot, which he didn't use at all with the Yamaha.

"We have obviously also worked on the bike to ꦉtry and make it more easy for his style. We still have a lot to work on, but here [at Jerez], a track he likes and with good tyres, the work paid off with this🌟 good result."

The Jerez celebrations were in stark contrast to Lorenzo's trackside frustration in Argentina when, after finishing just eleventh on his Ducati debut in Qatar, he fell after tangling with Andrea Iannone at෴ the very first corner.

"For us Jorge's always been quite positive," Ciabatti said of working with the 30-year-old. "Obviously when there is frustration and a lot adrenali🍎ne like in Argentina it's hard to stay super calm. But Jorge feels full support from th🅺e team and he's been very easy to work with."

Lorenzo is ninth in world championship with team-m🅠ate Andrea Dovizioso, who also has one podium this season, fifth and the top Desmosediꦏci rider.

Ducati has revealed that its original fairing concept to try and replace some of the downforce lost due to the removal of winglets, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果: will not be raced due to its im💙pact on topಌ speed and they are now working on a new design.