Daily Update MotoGP

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, March 24th 2008, 14:53 GMT
Jorge Lorenzo is staying realistic about his prospects for the upcoming race in Jerez despite his sensational MotoGP debut in Qatar.

The two-time 250cc champion clinched pole position in his first race and then went on to finish in second position, behind world champion Casey Stoner.

The Spaniard admits he will never forget his maiden race, but he is keeping his feet on the ground and reckons this weekend's race at Jerez will be hard.

"Qatar was unbelievable and something I will remember forever," said Lorenzo. "I've felt great since and now I'm really excited about the next one; I never expected to be going into only my second MotoGP race in such a great position in the classification.

"However I know it will be hard work for me again in Jerez and it's still just my second race on the M1. I will have to work and focus very hard in practice if I want to be able to repeat the Qatar experience.

"In November at the test I had some difficulties but in February I did one of my best laps of the whole winter, despite the bad weather, and I hope I can be even faster this time.

"Now I am at the top and I feel very much in the spotlight. Qatar changed everything for me and now I hope that I can continue in the same way in front of my home fans."

Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, who endured a disappointing Qatar race on his way to fifth place, said he is still positive about his team's performance and is not aiming to bounce back in Spain.

"Obviously Qatar didn't turn out quite as we hoped but we took away a lot of positives from the weekend," he said.

"We saw how competitive both our bike and the Bridgestone tyres are, and this is very exciting for the season ahead. We did some excellent work at the Jerez test in February and I was able to have great fun riding the bike, so now I'm really looking forward to going to race there.

"We know we have a big job facing us, especially after the result of Qatar, so we will be aiming to make the most of the few hours of practice time that we have available to us to refine our package."
reference :
autosport.com