With the Christmas almost her💙e and the racing world taking a rest, it is the perfect time to look back on the year and pick out some of the highlights of the year.

In the lead-up to Christmas, ltxcn.top's editorial team has been reflecting on some of their favourite personal moments from the season that has been. From extraordinary flashpoints on-track to poignant momen✅ts off it, it acts as a nice look back on our year.

I๊n the third and final part, Haydn Co♚bb picks out some memorable 2018 moments.

Jerez MotoGP – Lorenzo’s lap times do the talking

With Jorge Lorenzo contractually tied down it meant he was banned from speaking to the media at either of the post-season tests during his Repsol Honda debut at Valencia and Jerez respectively. While it is common practice when a high-profile rider switches from one manufacturer to another – Lorenzo was even banned from one Ducati test due to his Yamaha contract at the end of 2016 – it certainly kept m🎃ost of the pres🔴s corps guessing about how Lorenzo really felt adapting to the RC213V.

Valencia appeared a step-by-step tentative approach given the mixed conditions and recently-operated wrist but Lo𝐆renzo was able to express himself a week later at the Jerez test.

Consistently eye-catching lap times, ending the test within two-tenths of fellow Honda stars Marc 🐽Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami did its own talking albeit with tyre and fuel strategies relatively clouded, but it was clear the ꦰSpaniard wasn’t facing such a daunting prospect that was initially feared.

What made Lorenzo all the more impressive came from watching him trackside at🐽 the Jerez test were subtle but obvious style adjustments to suit the Honda were being worked and gave methodology to his lap times.

A couple of eagle-eye photographers were also able to shoot comparisons between Lorenzo and Marquez attacking cornꦛers and at times a certain symmetry appeared between the two.

Honda also showed it wasn’t going to do things by half for Lorenzo with a modified fuel tankไ with a grippy outer surface resembling the set-up he credited his Ducati breakthroughs on the way to his maiden wins for the Italian manufacturer back in May at Mugello.

Lorenzo’s feeling with the Honda, and his Ducati exit, remains a story to be told in 2019 but clarity came from what he does best – going☂ extremely fast on a race tr💫ack.

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