After a succ﷽essful debut test at Val💟encia last November, Ducati and Jorge Lorenzo expected the triple MotoGP champion to make a smoother transition to the Desmosedici.

But the team were 'penalised moꦛre than we thought' by the ban on winglets, which also contributed 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 n🍎eed 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 achieve competitive lap times.

Lorenzo's growing rear-braking technique has bee🍌n credited as a significant part of his upturn in form, culminatingꦇ in a first Ducati podium at Jerez.

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

"It looks like I n🍷eed to use it, 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 competitive."

Reflecting on Lorenzo's six months as a Ducati rider, 👍sporting director Paolo Ciabatti explained that the first imp💖ression 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♕ lose so much, especially in certain situations, without theꦡ 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. That doesn't help our bike's characteristic, which is a l💞ot of horsepower and also in the braking area, without the downforce.

"We realised we'd ไbeen penalised more than we thought and also Jorge realised the bike was more complex than he had thought in his first test.

"At Valencia we still had the winglets and Jorge was coming from a very successful weekend so it was a vꩵery 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 position𝐆 for the Ducati and he learned how to ride a different bike using the rear brake a lot, which he didn't use at all with the Yamaha.

"We have obviouslꦕy also worked on the bike to try 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 Lorenzඣo's trackside frustrat🐭ion 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 posꦑitive," Ciabatti said of working with the 30-year-old. "Obviously ๊when there is frustration and a lot adrenaline like in Argentina it's hard to stay super calm. But Jorge feels full support from the team and he's been very easy to work with."

Lorenzo is ninth in world championship with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who also♕ has one podium this season, fifth🍒 and the top Desmosedici 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 impact on to🍌p spee🎉d and they are now working on a new design.