Advantage Lorenzo in opening Aragon practice sessions
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP‘s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi got down to business today in the first two free practice sessions for this weekend‘s Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón, and secured first and second respectively, with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith making it a perfect Yamaha top-three.
The weekend‘s Grand Prix is the last European race on the MotoGP calendar before the three back-to-back overseas rounds. To prepare themselves for the final stretch of the 2015 season, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP tested at the MotorLand Aragón circuit three weeks ago and needed little time spurt to the top of the leaderboard.
Lorenzo was more eager than ever to score a top result and increase his chances of winning the championship. Trying to avoid traffic, he took his time getting out of the box in the morning practice. Once he hit the track he was quick to pile on the pressure, setting numerous fastest laps to finish the 45-minute session in the lead by 0.490s with a best lap of 1’48.249.
In the afternoon, the local hero again gradually upped his pace. While working on his setting he took over at the top after 20 minutes, posting a 1‘48.307 lap. He held first place for most of the session, until the hot lap shoot-out started with ten minutes on the clock.
The Spaniard decided to accept the challenge and popped on a medium compound tyre to drop an impressive 1‘47.517, the first 1‘47 lap of the weekend, pleasing his passionate home fans to no end. His time was unchallenged for the remainder of the session, moving him back up to first place with 0,683s advantage over his closest rival and teammate Rossi. As Lorenzo was also the fastest in all sectors on his stunning fastest lap, his best time is also today‘s ideal lap time.
JORGE LORENZO
There‘s a big difference between how we have always felt here before and how we feel here now. The improvement is thanks to the work of the engineers, who improved the way the bikes work, so even at a difficult track such as Aragon we can be competitive. Our rivals don‘t sleep so, so they will be strong and tomorrow‘s pole will be fast. We need to further improve the setting to be able to make an even better pace.
Source: Yamaha Racing