Lorenzo says Ducati fairing giving him "half a second a lap"

The Spanish rider tried out of the new bodywork during Friday practice at Brno and subsequently used it for the rest of the weekend, including the race, saying it improved his front-end confidence.

Despite finishing 15th in a rain-affected ‘flag-to-flag’ race after his second bike had not been prepared by his crew at the time of his pitstop, Lorenzo said he feels he took “two steps forward” at Brno.

“The key is that I’m getting to close to the feeling I had with my previous bike,” said Lorenzo. “I don’t have it yet, but it will come. The fairing gives me a lot of confidence in the front.

“Let’s say my limit is farther. I am faster, half a second faster on all the laps.”

The fairing used by Lorenzo in Brno was only a part of a larger homologated design, which Pramac rider Danilo Petrucci used during Saturday’s third practice session.

Lorenzo had a chance to sample the full bodywork on Monday during post-race testing, but said there was not much difference between it and what he had used during the race weekend.

“I tried the other option on Monday, I didn’t try it during the weekend, because we knew it didn’t change so much,” he said.

“It has a little bit more effect, but you lose more speed on the straights. From the old fairing to new fairing, you feel 80 percent to 90 percent, the other one is just 10 percent.

“Petrucci for example tried it, but discarded it. He didn’t use it. For him it was worse. So it depends on your riding. If it was clearly better for him, he would use it. He’s not stupid.”

Dovizioso expects to use new fairing

Lorenzo’s factory Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso did not use the new fairing during the race weekend in Brno, but tested it on Monday.

The Italian says he expects to at least start this weekend’s Red Bull Ring event using it.

“I think we will start [with it],” said Dovizioso. “But only when we get on the track we will understand exactly the positives and negatives.

“We used the test in Brno to understand the best way, to have the right feedback about the new fairing. It was quite clear what we tried on that track.

“We will see in the future how we will use that, but I believe on this track it’s positive to use.”

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont