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Jorge Lorenzo wasn’t as bad as people made him out to be, says ex-crew chief
Jorge Lorenzo’s reputation for being difficult during his MotoGP career was well known, but according to his former crew chief Ramon Forcada, working with the three-time world champion wasn’t as challenging as people often made it out to be.
Even Lorenzo has admitted that his time in the premier class was marked by plenty of tension, particularly with rivals like Valentino Rossi. As he put it: “two divas, very proud, and we thought we were the best.”
Lorenzo became something of a villain when he took on The Doctor at Yamaha. Yamaha had two of the fastest riders in the paddock on their bikes and there was always going to be some friction between them.
Ramon Forcada insists Jorge Lorenzo wasn’t difficult to work with
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Speaking on Duralavita, Lorenzo’s former crew chief, Ramon Forcada, shared his views on which MotoGP riders were the easiest and most challenging to work with.
The ex-Yamaha staffer pointed to 13-time Grand Prix winner John Kocinski as the toughest rider he worked with. But when it came to Lorenzo, a three-time MotoGP world champion, Forcada felt the reputation didn’t quite match the reality.
He explained, “Jorge was not difficult to work with. Working and living together is another thing, as in Jorge the rider, and Jorge the person. They are two different people.
“Jorge had one excellent quality as a rider, which is why he won what he won. It’s that he knew what he needed to go fast. The guy would tell you if you make the bike able to brake better in this corner I’m going to win.”
“Then you do it. You’ll do it with geometry, with suspensions, with this. But he knew exactly: If he wasn’t going fast, why was that? Not everyone knows that.”
Ramon Forcada picks Alex Barros as the easiest MotoGP rider he worked with
Speaking on the topic of the easiest riders to work with, Forcada pointed to seven-time Grand Prix winner Alex Barros as a standout.
The pair spent multiple seasons together during two separate periods at Honda, which coincided with some of the most successful stretches of Barros’ time in MotoGP.
Forcada explained, “I’d say Barros, for sure, was the easiest. Maybe even too easy. Because the guy would get off his bike and tell you, ‘Look, this is what’s wrong, and this is what’s wrong.’
“Then he’d leave and never come back. And you’d say, ‘But Alex, what have we done to this?’ and he’d say, ‘No, I know you’ll fix it.’ And that was it.”
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