“Much better” qualifying for Lorenzo to clinch front row start

 In MotoGP, News

Yamaha Factory Racing riders Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo scored the first double Yamaha front row of the year today in qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Reigning World Champion Lorenzo finally made a breakthrough mid-qualifying after struggling for the first three sessions to find a competitive set up on the newly surfaced Indianapolis track. A big set up change to his YZR-M1 with less than half the session to go changed his fortunes, allowing him to climb quickly up to third behind his team mate with two quick laps in succession. Lorenzo will now use the valuable warm up time tomorrow morning to test the consistency of the set up before the race.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position 3rd – Time 1.39.629 – Laps 26
“Qualifying was much better than the other three practices so far this weekend. I improved a lot and had a lot more confidence with the front, we changed one bike completely which worked. We are much more confident for tomorrow now. I would like to be closer to Casey, but seven tenths is better than one second and a half. It’s going to be a very tough race for everybody. The front tyre, especially on the left side is graining from the fourth lap so it’s going to be a complicated ride. Let’s see what happens.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“Well I can say one thing, we finally found the right direction to go in which is where we struggled until half way through qualifying. With the bike adjustment we improved a lot, we fitted a qualifying tyre and Jorge pushed for two laps. The bike was stable and we were quite pleased with the result. Ben has been spot on the whole weekend and I think he will be a big contender for the victory for tomorrow. We need to find consistency now and see if we can improve a little bit more for the race.”

Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“The overall result is pretty good today, both riders are on the front row and there is no better way to start the race. Ben’s rhythm is very good so I am positive; we have done a really good job so far. Jorge improved every session and is now up there so I am expecting a really good battle tomorrow.”

Source: Yamaha Racing

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