Lorenzo leads in the wet as final pre-season test begins at Jerez

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo kicked off day one of three of the final pre-season test of 2013 at the front, leading the MotoGP field by over a second in the time sheets.

Following a successful team launch yesterday, today’s first day of action was a disappointing affair for the MotoGP riders with black clouds, heavy rains and a waterlogged track hampering testing efforts. Despite the adverse weather Lorenzo managed to achieve 33 laps whilst working on the wet set up of his YZR-M1, achieving a competitive set up fairly quickly.

Valentino Rossi’s first day in the official 2013 colours of the Factory team were similar to Lorenzo’s, the Italian working on his wet set up. Rossi was able to find a good pace but ended the session needing to reduce rear tyre wear in the wet to last race distance at a fats pace.

Jorge Lorenzo, 1st; Best lap time 1’47.423 – 39 Laps
“We stayed on the track the whole day in the wet conditions and it was good to see how the bike performed. We improved a little bit but then the rear tyre dropped so we have to calm the bike down a little bit in the acceleration. We are quite good in the wet here in Jerez. It’s the first time we are in these conditions so its important to understand what our levels. It’s important to be competitive in this situation. We proved when the track was drying up that we could keep the performance of the rear tyre over distance, it doesn’t matter how fast you are in one lap, if you cant keep the level over the whole race you cannot win.”

Source: yamaha-racing.com