Jorge Lorenzo qualifies 5th, has good feeling for Motegi race

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo delivered a strong performance in this afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session to take fifth spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Japan.

Lorenzo looked comfortable around the Motegi circuit. Last year’s race winner wasted no time leaving pit lane at the start of the second qualifying session. His first flying lap was a 1’45.573, the first recorded lap of the session until his rivals completed their first laps, dropping him to fourth provisionally.

He improved his time on his second try, posting a 1’44.982, just 0.145 seconds from his teammate’s provisional pole, to climb up to third place.

With more than seven minutes remaining Lorenzo came in for a change of tyres. When he rejoined the action on the track the usual last-minute flurry of activity saw him dropping him to seventh at the end of the session.

However, he managed to rectify the situation with his second lap of 1’44.784 seconds, taking fifth place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Jorge Lorenzo – 5th | 1’44.784 | 7 Laps
“My last lap could have been faster, because I made a mistake. I lost two tenths but the other guys, Valentino, Dovizioso, Marc and Dani made good lap times. I didn’t do a perfect lap, but the important thing is that our pace is really good. I’m very confident. Let’s hope that it doesn’t rain tomorrow and that we can show our potential. It’s important to make a good start and try to overtake some riders on the first laps, but the race is very long so having a good pace is going to be the most important thing. To have a good race you have to have good feeling. Let’s hope for a competitive race and try to fight for the win.”

Source: Yamaha MotoGP