Lorenzo Lands First Row at Circuit of The Americas
. By Bikeland Staff
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi secured third and fourth place respectively in qualifying this afternoon for tomorrow‘s Grand Prix of the Americas.
With only 15 minutes to put in a hot lap at the long Circuit of The Americas (COTA), there was no time to waste for the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP teammates.
Lorenzo was the first out of the box and took provisional pole with his first flying lap of 2‘03.505, before the field pushed him back down to sixth place. On his next lap he dropped under the 2‘03 mark with a 2‘02.927, moving up to second, before he returned to the pits for a new set of rubber. With five minutes left of the session he rejoined the track for a final time attack. Bettering his time through all sections he reclaimed the top spot with a 2‘02.540, before being pushed back to third, 0.405s from the front in the final seconds of the session. He will start tomorrow‘s race from the end of the first row.
Teammate Rossi was also quick on the pace, with his first flying lap bettering his personal best to a 2‘03.170, momentarily taking pole before dropping down the order to fourth place. He had a wobble on his next lap, which cost him valuable time. He quickly headed back to his pit box for a fresh set of tyres with five and half minutes left on the clock. After a minute he came back out and picked up the pace even further, closing in to 0,033 from his teammate with a 2‘02.573. As he was unable to improve his starting position on the grid on his last lap, he will start his challenge tomorrow heading the second row.
Jorge Lorenzo
99 Jorge Lorenzo
3rd / 2'02.540 / 6 laps
“Qualifying was very exciting as always. The positions were changing a lot and we tried the maximum, even with not the best physical conditions. For one lap it was not so bad, I could give a maximum effort to ride this lap time. I was really satisfied with this time and position, I didn‘t expect to make the top five. Let‘s see what the weather is like tomorrow. Personally I prefer a dry race, but a wet race would be better for my physical condition. I am very happy that the Yamaha is becoming better in this track. We didn‘t have a lot of time, so we don‘t exactly know what our pace is like. The front tyre wears down very quickly on the right side, just like last year. Let‘s see in a dry race how it performs. I feel so-so at the moment. The antibiotics are doing their job, but I need to be in a perfect condition for tomorrow.”
Profile Profile
46 Valentino Rossi
4th / 2'02.573 / 6 laps
“I‘m happy because the second row was my target and I think that with a better lap I could have stayed on the first row, because we are very close to Jorge and Dovizioso. Second row is not a bad place for the start, also because we have a quite good pace. For sure we have to work and help the front tyre, where we have some issue, and after that the weather will be very important. It was supposed to rain today, but fortunately it was dry. We hope the weather remains the same tomorrow. Last year there was a bigger difference to Marc‘s pace, this is very positive, but he remains the favorite for the race tomorrow. After him there‘s me, Jorge and Dovi very close in terms of rhythm.”
Profile Profile
Valentino Rossi
Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
“In general today went well. First row is always a good place to start the race from. Considering Jorge‘s condition he did a great job and also Vale starting from second row is good. Even though we are satisfied about the results of qualifying, we still have some work to do. The technicians are trying to find some improvements to test in tomorrow‘s warm up. We feel positive that we can refine the set-up and we are confident in the capabilities of both our riders. The only thing we don‘t know is what the weather will be like. We have to be prepared for both a wet and a dry race.”
Massimo Meregalli
NOTES
The extended imagery from today's Qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas - USA) is available on www.yamahamotogp.com.
MotoGP Results - Qualifying - Courtesy of Dorna
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QUALIFYING RESULTS Results
FRONT ROW
1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2'02.135
2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 2'02.474
3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'02.540
SECOND ROW
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2'02.573
5. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 2'02.613
6. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 2'02.674
THIRD ROW
7. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 2'02.792
8. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP 2'02.869
9. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'03.161
FOURTH ROW
10. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2'03.440
11. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Pramac Racing 2'03.741
12. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP 2'03.754
FIFTH ROW
13. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 2'03.926
14. Stefan Bradl (GER) Forward Racing 2'04.275
15. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Pramac Racing 2'04.313
SIXTH ROW
16. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2'04.392
17. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aspar Team MotoGP 2'04.875
18. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Repsol Honda Team 2'05.086
SEVENTH ROW
19. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 2'05.156
20. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 2'05.214
21. Karel Abraham (CZE) AB Motoracing 2'05.261
EIGHTH ROW
22. Nicky Hayden (USA) Aspar Team MotoGP 2'05.569
23. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2'05.595
24. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Octo IodaRacing Team 2'06.145
NINTH ROW
25. Marco Melandri (ITA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2'07.267