Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Faces Tricky Conditions in Texas

2015-04-11 10:13
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo kicked off the action in America today with two challenging free practice sessions ahead of this weekend‘s Grand Prix of the Americas.

The first practice at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) was full of surprises. Rossi and Lorenzo initially battled themselves up to provisional 3rd and 13th respectively in a soaking wet morning session, but just 12 minutes into FP1 the red flags came out after a dog ran across the track, delaying the session by 20 minutes.

Once the session re-started, nine-time World Champion Rossi returned to the track and was able to better his time to a 2‘20.593 for a fourth place. He further improved his time in the afternoon. As dry patches started to form, he made the most of the last 18 minutes of track time and clocked a 2‘05.691. His time put him in sixth place, 0,856s from the front.

Teammate Lorenzo kept his caution in the first free practice as he struggled with a lack of rear grip, causing him to finish in ninth place with a 2‘21,486 lap. As the track dried out during FP2, the Spaniard gradually reached a personal best of 2‘06.174. He holds eleventh in the combined times, less than five tenths of a second from his teammate in sixth place.






46 Valentino Rossi
6th / 2'05.691 / 13 laps


“It‘s important to test on the wet because last year I never had a good feeling with the YZR-M1 under these conditions. We changed a lot on the setting of the bike and today I finished fourth on the full wet, which is not so bad, but on the dry I feel better. I am only sixth because I hit some traffic and I can do a little bit better than that. We still have to work, but the first feeling of the bike is not so bad.”



Profile Profile
Valentino Rossi



Jorge Lorenzo

99 Jorge Lorenzo
11th / 2'06.174 / 11 laps


“Today was a very difficult day for me. Since this morning I feel pretty bad. I didn‘t feel comfortable with either the bike or myself. My physical condition today it‘s not good, I got a cold and today I started on antibiotics because I feel sick. I couldn‘t work in a normal way; I feel weaker due to the cold. The doctors told me it‘s bronchitis and I suffer a lot when riding the bike. We have a lot of work to do with the machine but first of all I need to recover. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better with all the treatments. I‘m so sorry because today we couldn‘t improve the pace and I couldn‘t be competitive.”


Profile Profile





Massimo Meregalli
Team Director


“It is untypical weather in Austin. This morning it was cold, wet and windy but it was better in the afternoon. We have to be prepared, because the weather for the coming days is unpredictable, making this a tricky weekend. Anything can happen, so we have to be ready. Considering the uncertainty of the weather forecasts for this weekend, today was a good day in terms of data collecting, because we could practise on the wet and the dry. Unfortunately we only had 20 minutes on a dry track but those were important. We have some work to do to improve the settings of the bike for both conditions. This means we have to work in two directions, because we have to be ready for every circumstance, but we are confident that we can do it.”


Massimo Meregalli



NOTES


The extended imagery from today's Free Practice sessions (1 and 2) at the Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas - USA) is avaiable on www.yamahamotogp.com.






MotoGP Results - Free Practice 2 - Courtesy of Dorna

Download video Download




COMBINED FREE PRACTICE RESULTS Results




1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2'04.835
2. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 2'05.162
3. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 2'05.190
4. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP 2'05.564
5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 2'05.646
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'05.691
7. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'05.840
8. Stefan Bradl (GER) Forward Racing 2'05.990
9. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Pramac Racing 2'06.092
10. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'06.134
11. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'06.174
12. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 2'06.216
13. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Pramac Racing 2'06.294
14. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2'06.591
15. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP 2'07.011
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Repsol Honda Team 2'07.268
17. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2'07.419
18. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 2'07.581
19. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 2'07.916
20. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aspar Team MotoGP 2'07.968
21. Karel Abraham (CZE) AB Motoracing 2'08.266
22. Nicky Hayden (USA) Aspar Team MotoGP 2'08.762
23. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 2'09.372
24. Marco Melandri (ITA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2'11.258
25. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Octo IodaRacing Team 2'12.409


CIRCUIT INFORMATION




Technical Informations
Circuit Circuit of the Americas
Location Austin, Texas
Length (m) 5513
Width (m) 15
Turns 20
Turns righ 9
Turns left 11
Pole position left
Grand Prix of the Americas



Record Lap
Time 2'03.575
Rider M.Marquez
Bike Honda
Year 2014
Best Lap
Time 2'02.773
Rider M.Marquez
Bike Honda

Source: Yamaha MotoGP

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story

Headlines