The Grand Prix of Italy at Mugello began well for Yamaha Factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies this morning with a promising first free practice session. Both riders were quickly up to pace on what is a newly resurfaced track, swapping places within the top four. The session wrapped up with Lorenzo in fourth just 0.264 from provisional pole and team mate Spies just behind in fifth, 0.377 from the front.
The weather which has played such a big part in the 2011 season so far was back this afternoon, spoiling the Tuscan sunshine with a burst of rain which rendered the afternoon’s second session useless. Lorenzo did not ride at all, Spies ventured out in the last two minutes to practice starts.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 4th – Time 1.49.251 – Laps 27
“In the afternoon the track was not perfect so we decided to stay in the garage. I am feeling confident because I like Mugello; I feel very comfortable riding on the new asphalt and this morning everything was good; all of us in the team have done a fantastic job so far. In my opinion we are now the closest we have been this season to the competition. Even with that, to win here will be tough, but we can! It is still too soon to say, but we have improved.”
Ben Spies
Position 5th – Time 1.49.364 – Laps 28
“This afternoon became one of those sessions we’ve had all year, rain came and so you don’t want to take any risks. With the conditions the way they were we didn’t want to risk the bike or me so we just went out on the last lap to do a couple of practice starts. The morning session was good; the bike is working really well. We tried some different tyre combinations and I think we can make the bike even better. I think we have the pace to battle for top five and contend for the podium so that’s our goal.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“We didn’t go out this afternoon as track conditions were not useful for us. We wanted to test some things but we needed good conditions to do so. We saved a tyre and we saved engine mileage and it’s also safer for the rider not having to push in these conditions. This morning went well; Jorge was pleased with his position, feeling, turning and stopping. We tried two different set ups, one was clearly better which we had planned to progress this afternoon but will instead save for tomorrow morning.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“We made a good start today; both riders are close to the front with just a little gap. We are quite confident as we are working to make the set up better to make them more comfortable on the bike. As a first day it is a promising beginning.”
Contrasting conditions halt Edwards and Crutchlow’s progress
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow battled the elements once again today to finish a rain disrupted opening day of practice at the spectacular Mugello circuit in sixth and 11th places respectively.
After rain dominated the recent Silverstone and Assen races, there was welcome respite when Edwards and Crutchlow took to the track this morning to begin their preparations for the Gran Premio D’Italia TIM in gloriously hot and sunny conditions.
But during the build-up to this afternoon’s second session, dark clouds had gathered ominously above the spectacular 5.245km track, and when the ses sion commenced the track was being covered by light rainfall.
A new surface was too damp for slicks but not sufficiently wet enough to conduct any meaningful laps on Bridgestone’s rain tyre for the majority of the 45-minute session. And with light drizzle falling intermittently throughout, Edwards and Crutchlow only ventured outside of their garage in the final five minutes to complete four laps between them.
This morning, Edwards set a best lap of 1.49.810 in near perfect conditions that saw air temperatures hit 26 degrees to finish top non-factory rider in sixth position. The American praised significantly increased grip levels offered by the new tarmac and is confident with more dry track time tomorrow he’ll be able to compete for a second row position on the grid.
The rain disruption meant today was far from ideal preparations for Crutchlow as the British rider attempts to qu ickly learn the fast and flowing Mugello circuit, which is one of the most technically challenging on the 2011 MotoGP World Championship calendar.
He set a best time of 1.50.683 this morning and was looking to improve his feeling with the front-end of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine this afternoon before the rain halted his plans.
Colin Edwards
Position 6th – Time 1.49.810 – Laps 21
“This morning was great and the new surface here is phenomenal. They’ve done an unbelievable job because the grip is awesome and all the bumps that really upset the bike have all gone too. We know the spring rates on the suspension we normally need to use for this track but we’ve got to go harder for tomorrow because I’ve got so much traction the bike is set too soft and its sitting down in the middle of the corner. The only problem I had again today was my ribs that are still causing me a lot of pain after the crash in Catalunya. With the few days rest after Assen I was starting to think the muscle damage was on the mend and I could at least sneeze without bursting into tears with the pain. But this morning I felt back to square one and to be honest this afternoon wasn’t great for the TV or for the fans, but that rest will probably help me out for the rest of the weekend.”
Cal Crutchlow
Position 11th – Time 1.50.683 – Laps 21
“Without doubt, this is the most difficult track I’ve had to learn so far this year, but I think 11th position is still a good result and I think with a few more laps under my belt I’d have been into the top ten. The track is so technical and there is a lot of undulation, a lot of blind corner entries and you can’t see the exit of the fast chicanes. So it is a difficult track to go fast o n and it is also a very physically demanding track, though the left collarbone I broke at Silverstone isn’t too uncomfortable. I’m just upset because I’ve lost another session because of the rain and that is the last thing I need when I’m trying to learn the track and set some competitive times. When you miss a session it makes the rest of the weekend difficult, but I’ll do my best to get a good grid position in qualifying tomorrow. I’m also looking to improve the front-end feeling tomorrow. The front this morning was too vague and we had some ideas to improve it this afternoon but the weather was no good.”
2011 MotoGP Italy
Mugello 01/07/2011
1 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 1’48.987
2 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1’49.027
3 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1’49.088
4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1’49.251
5 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1’49.364
6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1’49.810
7 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1’50.104
8 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1’50.203
9 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 1’50.629
10 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 1’50.658
11 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1’50.683
12 Randy De Puniet Ducati FRA 1’50.729
13 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 1’50.780
14 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1’51.153
15 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1’51.868
