Lorenzo makes it onto Laguna second row in Qualifying

Injured Jorge Lorenzo battled through one of the most hectic qualifying sessions of the season today to take sixth place on the grid for the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.

Lorenzo continued his careful approach to the weekend on Saturday, gradually building speed whilst focusing on minimising any risk of damage to his freshly broken collarbone. The world champion was one of the first riders out in qualifying, recording a 1’22.589 before dropping down the timesheets a little as the lap times tumbled. He dropped under the 1’22 mark with his second lap before returning to the pits for fresh rubber. He returned to the track with just over six minutes to go and joined the fight for the front row. He was able to improve again, recording a 1’21.453 to take sixth on the grid just 0.277 seconds from pole.

Jorge Lorenzo 6th / 1’21.453 / 9 laps
“I felt better physically in qualifying than in the last free practice so I pushed a lot and made some good laps. Maybe I could do one or two tenths faster with a perfect lap and be in the first row but the position is ok. When I saw my lap times I hoped to stay third or fourth but the other riders improved their lap times from the free practice. They are so close, if I could improve one tenth I could be on the front row and with two tenths I could be in pole position. The important thing is I didn’t crash and maybe tomorrow will be even better. It’s a very hard track, almost all the braking zones are not completely straight so I struggle on the shoulder. It’s a very long race with 32 laps so maybe with some painkillers I can be better than at Assen.”

Source: yamaha-racing.com