Lorenzo adjusts well to memory-laden track

A sun-soaked Laguna Seca welcomed the MotoGP paddock to American soil today, where Jorge Lorenzo looked on good form to finish the opening session in second and his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi made a solid start for sixth position. The Fiat Yamaha M1s are running in a special livery here to celebrate the forthcoming launch of the Fiat 500 car in the United States, which features the faces of 500 fans on both bikes and the riders’ leathers.

Lorenzo has had an eventful time at this track in his two previous visits here but today was much more routine, as the 23-year-old quickly found a good rhythm and was on the pace from the start. He finished the day just 0.233 seconds off leader Casey Stoner but he admits he needs to make some adjustments to his riding style tomorrow to better suit the peculiar nature of this track.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 2nd Time: 1’21.932 Laps: 31
“This was a good first practice and everything came quite easily; we didn’t find any big problems and I was able to be at the front from the start. That said it looks like Casey is very strong here and we will have to work hard to catch him! I think I need to make some small changes to my riding style tomorrow rather than big changes to the bike setting and hopefully this will help us to find a few tenths and make sure we can fight on Sunday. A lot can change and I hope we can improve some more tomorrow.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“The practice was fine for us today, we had no major problems and we just tried different things between the two bikes; clearly one setting was better than the other. We need a bit more time because we need to improve the balance between the front and rear, but we know that it’s very difficult to have everything perfect at this track because the corkscrew is very unusual! Second place is a good performance for the opening day and we’re only two tenths off Stoner so we are happy and will try to improve more tomorrow.”

Source: Yamaha Racing