Yamaha Factory Racing riders Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo finally made a start to the 2011 MotoGP season tonight under the floodlights of the International Losail Circuit in Qatar. Tackling his first official race weekend practice as a factory rider, Spies spent his session on just one set of tyres which were not the best for the track. Despite this the American rider was consistently quick throughout the free practice, ending in confident mood ahead of tomorrow’s second session in sixth place, just 0.131 seconds from second.
On the other side of the garage reigning World Champion Lorenzo had a more fruitful evening session, making big progress from his test here a few days ago. The crew went back to a tried and tested set up from 2010 which delivered more confidence for the young Mallorcan. The data from the free practice give him a clear direction to improve towards qualifying on Saturday night. Lorenzo ended the session in seventh place, just 0.093 seconds behind his team mate.
As a mark of support for those suffering following the disaster in Japan both Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo will carry the message “With You, Japan” in both English and Japanese on their M1’s for the weekend.
Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Rider – 6th, 1’56.493 (17 laps)
“Everything went really smooth, we made two major changes to the bike, one was better, one wasn’t. We spent the whole time on tyres we hope are the worst for the track, a front I don’t like and a harder rear and we matched our time from the test. I’m happy that we’ve made the bike a bit better, if we go to what we think is better with the tyres we should have a few tenths.”
Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Rider – 7th, 1’56.586 (18 laps)
“Today we used a set up from last year here, I feel much more used to it so I am a lot more happy. I think if we improve the setting some more tomorrow we can really step forward. With the new chassis I can make faster corner speed here so the 2011 chassis is working well. I think we will all be closer to the front on Sunday night.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“A very good practice for us, even when the position is not so good. The last test we did a long run and Jorge was not so happy with the set up and was a bit disappointed. Finally the improvement and changes we made today have resulted in a good test and a better feeling for him. This means he can now be consistent, that is his strong point. From now on we will be moving forwards.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“We had a good response on Ben’s side, we used only one set of tyres during the session and it wasn’t the optimum tyre so this gives us confidence. After two previous tests Jorge has now found a better set up which is promising for the weekend. All in all the team has made a good start and we are looking forward to making the next step tomorrow to get closer to our set up for the race.”
Edwards and Crutchlow satisfied with early pace
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow declared themselves satisfied with early progress at the end of the opening practice session for the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar tonight.
In windy conditions that were as unpredictable as those experienced during a two-night test earlier this week, experienced Edwards made big improvements to the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine to post the 10th fastest time at the floodlit Losail International Circuit.
The Texan was encouraged by his pace having concentrated exclusively on using the hard compound Bridgestone rear tyre, though he plans to make overnight changes to improving turning performance in the faster sections of the 5.38km track.
Highlighting just how competitive the 2011 MotoGP World Championship promises to be, Edwards’ best time of 1.56.879 was less than half-a-second away from the top three.
Crutchlow produced a performance that demonstrated his incredible courage and determination as he finished just over 0.5s behind Edwards in 14th position. Crutchlow lost the tip of his left little finger when he crashed on the second night of testing on Monday evening and rode tonight in considerable discomfort.
The British rider had to use a modified clutch lever to ease the stress on his badly damaged finger and he clocked a best time of 1.57.429 in 17-laps. He too concentrated on fine-tuning the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine to suit the harder compound Bridgestone tyre. But it was a late front-end change that boosted his confidence and helped him lap nearly 0.5s faster than he managed during the test earlier this week.
Colin Edwards – 10th, 1’56.879
“I actually feel really good on the bike but unfortunately I am not quite fast enough at the moment. The number beside my name on the timesheets doesn’t look that good but I’m actually better off than the charts suggest. I’m missing those crucial two or three tenths but I’m confident I can find it. We just need to get the bike to turn just a little bit better and I’m sure if we can work in that area, we’ll find that time I’m losing. But I did my best lap on the hard tyre right at the end, so that gives me a lot of confidence with a couple more changes to the bike that I can be higher up. I think a lot of the guys in front of me ran the soft tyre, so the race set-up isn’t that far away. I got with (Andrea) Dovizioso on the Honda and behind Valentino (Rossi) and our package is pretty strong, but the times tonight prove how competitive it is going to be this season.”
Cal Crutchlow – 14th, 1’57.429
“That was not easy at all and being honest, the pain from the finger is really bad and it was tough to ride. The crash was only three days ago and when I took the bandage off tonight, I learned there’s some nerve damage where the fingernail was. The pain when the bandage came off was something I can’t describe, so considering how uncomfortable it is, I’m pretty pleased to be where I am and doing some decent times. I was having trouble using the clutch so I modified the lever, but I was still having some problems shifting, particularly at the first corner when I kept going down to first instead of second. That was costing me time but I couldn’t do anything about it. We made a change to the front-end at the end of the session that we haven’t tried since Sepang and it felt night and day different. I was much faster and felt much more comfortable because I felt like the front tyre was loaded more in the corner and I could turn better. I’m looking forward to working more with the new front-end set-up tomorrow because I believe we can make another step and hopefully the finger will be a little bit better too.”
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