FIRST AND THIRD FOR LORENZO AND ROSSI AS MOTOGP RESTARTS IN BRNO

2010-08-13 09:26
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi started the second half of the season in fine style today, finishing first and third in the first free practice session at Brno. However the team's work was cut a little short when light rain fell at the end of the practice, forcing the riders to sit out the last ten minutes.

Fresh from his summer holidays, Lorenzo was keen to get back on to the bike he has ridden to such success so far this season. The championship leader found a comfortable rhythm straight away and he was able to try both Bridgestone tyre compounds before the rain started to spot towards the end. His best lap was over half a second quicker than Dani Pedrosa in second and the 23-year-old is hoping for better weather tomorrow to allow him and his crew time to finish the tyre work they began today.

Rossi is in much better physical condition following the summer break and he felt considerably stronger as he climbed back on board his M1 today, although he did report some pain in his leg and shoulder later on in the session. His improved fitness was evident throughout as he was consistently at the top of the time sheets, finishing just 0.065 off Pedrosa. He tried two different settings and will decide tonight which is working best before fine-tuning it tomorrow in time for qualifying.

Lorenzo - Position: 1st Time: 1'57.215 Laps: 19
"I am happy to be riding here in Brno again. It's always difficult to go back to work after the holidays and this track is so different to Laguna, so wide and much longer; it took me a few more laps than usual to get going! Once I found my rhythm this was a good session and I felt happy on my bike, with a good setting to start from. We tried both rear tyres and we need more time to choose, because unfortunately it rained a bit at the end and we had to stop early. We'll have to wait and see how the track is tomorrow but we hope for it to be dry so we can continue with what we started on today."

Rossi - Position: 3rd Time: 1'57.821 Laps: 21
"I'm happy, this was a good practice and I feel good on the bike. After some laps I started to feel some pain in the shoulder and the leg but in general I am okay and my condition has improved a lot from the last race. We've done a good job on the setting and I was fastest throughout most of the session. It was a pity the rain came because we couldn't make the final step, but hopefully we can improve again tomorrow. Even though I still have some pain I am quite a lot stronger, especially with the shoulder, so I don't have such a big problem in braking."

Zeelenberg - Team Manager
"We had 45 minutes in the dry and we went very well, Jorge had a good feeling with the bike. We have some doubts about the rear tyre and whether to use the hard or the soft - we made some adjustments and we needed to check the setting again but then it rained so we didn't have the chance. But overall things are good and Jorge is feeling happy on the bike. We just need a bit more track time tomorrow to decide which rear tyre to use."

Brivio - Team Manager
"It was a good session because we tested two different settings and Valentino was almost constantly the fastest. Unfortunately it rained in the last fifteen minutes and we couldn't make our final test but it's okay, it seems we're in good shape. Tomorrow we will continue to fine-tune the setting and hopefully make another step with the lap times."

Source: Fiat Yamaha Team

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