Jorge Lorenzo is hoping th꧃at next year's Honda can revive some of the front-end confidence he had felt during his outings on the 2018 machine.

Although injured during the final stages of his Ducati career, a sore Lorenzo made his Honda deb𒁃ut during last November's Valencia and Jerez tests, signing-off 2018 a competitive fourth-fastest and 0.160s from the top.

That far exceeds his b🔥est qualifying position of eighth during an injury-interrupted 2019 sea💛son.

"The first time I tried the bike, at the Valencia test and also ♍at Jerez - with last year's bike I was quite quick a♉nd my confidence was okay," Lorenzo said at the EICMA show.

"But with the 2019 bike - even if f𝐆oꩲr Marc it was a very nice year, because he made the record number of points and rode unbelievably, the rest of the Honda riders have struggled a little bit with a lack of confidence in the front."

Despite recovering from shoulder surgery during pre-season testing, Marquez 💖was soon able to manage the revised cornering 🦋character - albeit with some record lean angles - and then unleash the extra horsepower to claim eleven victories and 17 podiums.

However, Marquez is the lone Honda rider in the world championship top e💝ight, with LCR's Cal Crutchlow the only other R🦩CV rider to have stood on the podium this season.

"On the straight, it's very good to have [the extra horsepower]. But in the corners, we've faced some little problems that we are trying to solve f🦂or next year and let's see at the Valencia test," Lorenzo added.

Lorenzo has taken a best race fini💛sh of eleventh so far this year, but hasn't qualified or finished higher than 14th since back injuries at Assen in June, prompting continued rumours🅘 about his Honda future.

The engine-freeze rules mean it would not have been poss⛎ible for Lorenzo or Crutchlow to switch back to the 2018 machine during this season.

Crutchl𝕴ow's team-mate Takaaki Nakagami, who races last year's bike, took a best finish of fifth place before heading for shoulder surgery.

Johan🃏n Zarco will make his final race appearance in place of Nakagami a🍸t this weekend's Valencia finale. Development of the 2020 prototypes will then continue during the post-race test on Tuesday and Wednesday.