Ninth for Jorge Lorenzo in Sunday's Austin race was only two places higher than his previous 2017 finish, in Qatar, but this time the triple MotoGP champion was much closer to the other Ducatis.

The Spaniard had been 20-seconds behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso at the opening round. A fall at the first turn in Argentina then negated that race, but at COTA Lorenzo crossed the finish line 3.9s from the top Ducati of Dovizioso (sixth).

Starting from sixth on the grid, Lorenzo was one place behind his team-mate for almost the entire race, before front tyre graining issues - and an aggressive pass by Andrea Iannone - cost him two positions in the final laps.

"Until I had front tyre graining problems, I was even getting closer to Dovizioso," Lorenzo said. "So my position with no graining I think would be seventh, just behind Dovizioso.

"But when I started having graining on the right side of the tyre, probably a little bit more than the rest of my competitors, I needed to slow down by five or seven tenths. That's when Iannone caught me.

"Also, Iannone passed me quite aggressively, so I had to go out of the track and I lost two seconds. That was when Petrucci caught me and also passed me in the sectors I was losing a lot because of the graining.

"But I am happy, because all the weekend we were losing two seconds on the pace, which would have meant almost 40 seconds in the race, and finally we finished 17-seconds behind. It could have been ten or twelve seconds without the graining, so that's very positive.

"Obviously, ninth place is not a good position, because we are here to fight for the championship, and to win. For the moment this is not possible, but we are much closer to the other Ducatis, and we are much closer obviously to the other competitors."

Much of the improvement comes from Lorenzo simply getting comfortable on the Desmosedici, after spending his entire MotoGP carer at Yamaha.

"Yes. Obviously much more comfortable than Qatar, this is a little bit more my natural position on the bike, and a little bit better than Argentina, where I couldn't demonstrate it in the race," he said.

"The important thing is to feel natural and be able to push and enter the corners with confidence and aggression. This race was not perfect, but I stayed behind Andrea, who is in the team for five years and knows perfectly the bike, while I still don't know it.

"I was able to stay there while I still had some front tyre. And this at one of my not favourite tracks, so I hope that at Jerez we will do another step forward."

Asked what he is missing from the GP17, Lorenzo said: "The weak points are still the same; the turning, the engine is a little bit aggressive. And the strong points are the same, the acceleration and the power on the straights."

MotoGP now returns to Europe and the first of Lorenzo's home Spanish rounds, at Jerez. Could he claim a first Ducati podium at one of the upcoming events?

"Jerez has been difficult for Ducati historically, but you never know. We are progressing very quickly. Jerez is one of my favourite circuits, where I get more victories.

"Le Mans, also, is one of my favourites and good for Ducati. So I will go with Le Mans..."