Lorenzo “regained confidence” in Misano practice showing

The Yamaha rider ended the day fourth quickest, 0.287s shy of surprise pacesetter Pol Espargaro on the satellite Tech 3 machine in second practice.

Following his recent struggles – which have seen the reigning champion drop 64 points behind points leader Marc Marquez in the title chase – Lorenzo feels he has been able to make a breakthrough with the set-up of his factory M1.

He added he could have gone even faster had he fitted a new tyre at the end of the session.

“Finally, it looks like we found the way in the setting of the bike that made me feel much better and much more comfortable,” said Lorenzo.

“We give a constant pace and a fast pace, very happy with this position because I'm the only one who didn't put a new tyre on in the end, and even then I was fast.

“So with a new tyre, I could be five to seven tenths faster. I think we regained a little bit of confidence. Let's see tomorrow if we can do another step forward.”

"Lucky” not to crash in FP1

Michelin has brought a revised front tyre featuring a new casing to Misano, with a number of riders being caught out by the harder rubber in low-side crashes – particularly in the opening session.

Asked to explain the numerous front-end wash-outs that occurred during the day, Lorenzo said: “Especially in the morning, with the soft front tyre, you needed to be careful.

“In the afternoon, it improved a little bit the situation, we had less crashes. In some corners you needed to be careful, I was lucky to stay on the bike in the morning.”

Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova