Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Take Charge in Catalunya Free Practice

2016-06-03 11:45
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Jorge Lorenzo was quick to return to his Mugello form at a somewhat dusty Montmelò circuit today and wrapped up the first day of the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya at the top of the combined free practice time sheets. Teammate Valentino Rossi was also fast in the sweltering conditions and showed a competitive pace throughout the day to take sixth place in the combined rankings.

Lorenzo had been looking forward to riding in front of his home fans again this weekend and immediately stormed to first place on his flying lap. Riding with a special, by Anna Vives designed, 99 rider number to raise awareness for people with disabilities and the importance of teamwork in ’connecting abilities‘, he did not relinquish his provisional lead until the final five minutes of the session. He secured second place with a best lap of 1'42.143s, just 0.078s from the front.

The afternoon practice saw the track temperatures go up to 26 degrees, changing the track conditions. Lorenzo remained unaffected and only took three laps to drop a 1‘42.281s to take the top spot again in the first minutes of FP2. He led until the pace picked up as the session came to a close. The local hero was quick to respond with a 1‘41.712s and regained first place to end the day 0.242s ahead of his closest rival.

Rossi has named Montmeló as one of his favourite places to visit on the MotoGP calendar and was clearly enjoying being back at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He steadily improved his pace in the morning session to move up to second position, behind his teammate. He then put his attention towards improving tyre-life and finished FP1 in third place with a 1'42.536s, under half a second from the front.

In the afternoon he upped the pace further. He set a 1‘42.365s for second place on his third lap and maintained this spot throughout most of the session. He focused on bettering his bike‘s settings and testing various tyre options and was pushed back to sixth when various riders put in a hot lap at the end of the session. He wrapped up the day with a best time of 1'42.296s, 0.584s behind his teammate.



The extended imagery from today's sessions (Free Practice 1 and 2) at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (Spain) is available on
www.yamahamotogp.com
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MASSIMO MEREGALLI

MASSIMO MEREGALLI
TEAM DIRECTOR


In terms of lap times, bike setting and also the pace we are in a quite good position, as displayed by Jorge‘s fastest lap times and also Valentino‘s competitive pace. However, we were not expecting to have this unforeseen tyre behaviour for both the front and rear. Even though we tried all the tyre choices, we still have a lot of doubts about which option would be best suited for the race. We have collected a lot of information in both sides of the garages because many things have been tested today. We will study the data deeply to prepare something for tomorrow‘s practice sessions, mainly to elongate the tyre life and rear grip.






JORGE LORENZO

JORGE LORENZO


I‘m very happy with the start of this weekend because from the first lap I was very fast and had a huge difference compared to our rivals on the first laps. In the other practice session, on new tyres, we also got close but the pace was fantastic this morning. This afternoon, with hotter temperatures, the conditions were more difficult; there was less grip on the track. We are trying some settings and all the tyres, and we still have a gap to the others, mainly in terms of pace, so this is very positive.






VALENTINO ROSSI

VALENTINO ROSSI


Here in Montmeló it‘s always difficult with the tyres because the asphalt has a low grip-level, so after some laps the performance of the tyre goes down a lot. It‘s very important to have a good balance of the bike but also have a good pace when the tyres have done more than five or six laps, so we worked on that. I‘m quite happy about my speed and pace and the bike is not so bad. We have to work, but the feeling is good. This weekend we have three fronts and three rears, because Michelin brought some new rubbers, so it‘s very important to know the way to work for tomorrow. We have three different tyres but the quantity is the same, so it will be crucial to have the right plan. For the Friday it wasn‘t so bad.

Source: Yamaha Motor Racing

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