Lorenzo overcomes horrific practice crash to take impressive pole position

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo made a sensational comeback from a high speed crash this morning to utterly dominate qualifying and take pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of U.S.A, his first of the 2011 season. The high side crash at the end of the morning’s practice left some wondering if the Yamaha Factory rider would make it through the whole qualifying session. Fears proved to be unfounded as the Mallorcan took to the track like a man possessed, breaking under the 1.22 mark on his first flying lap. A string of consistent laps saw him keep the top spot for the entire session barring a brief challenge by his team mate Ben Spies. Lorenzo reclaimed pole quickly and kept it to the end of the session, breaking the lap record in the process.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position 1st – Time 1.21.202 – Laps 35
“This pole position was unexpected for us after this morning, but thankfully I feel more pain walking than I do riding the bike. Of course I’m not in perfect condition on the bike and for sure I have to put more pressure on my arms and will get more tired. I think I was very lucky this morning that I had no big injuries. I think this pole position is for us an impressive result.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“I’m a very happy team manager today! We had an unbelievable qualifying session. It’s the first one this year! After the crash nobody really thought about having pole but just seeing how we are for tomorrow’s race. His second lap was a 21.9, I thank that was a thank you to his mechanics because he used the bike that he crashed with this morning. It was pretty smashed up after the crash so they worked hard to make it ready. I think the consistent lap times show he is ready to rock and roll tomorrow.”

Source: Yamaha Racing