Just four days after his commanding win at Silverstone, Lorenzo served up more of the same form during the first free practice session at Assen today. The Mallorcan continued to keep the Fiat Yamaha Team at the forefront of the action despite Valentino Rossi’s absence with a dominant performance at his favourite track on the opening day of the 80th Dutch TT.

Lorenzo found himself comfortable and fast on his M1 from the start of the session, taking the lead mid-way through and remaining at the top of the standings as he consistently improved his time. The 23-year-old tried both the soft and hard Bridgestone tyres and worked especially on the front tyre, having encountered some small problems in that area at this race last year. The track has undergone an alteration to the chicane at turns six and seven, meaning Lorenzo’s time today was almost a second quicker than Rossi’s pole of last year. Casey Stoner finished just 0.011 off Lorenzo today, with a further half-second gap back to Nicky Hayden in third.

Jorge Lorenzo – 1st, Time: 1’35.169, laps: 28
“I am happy with today and I feel very good on the bike; the weather is perfect and I love Assen! The new corner is very fast and I really like it, it’s great fun to ride through the chicane at such a speed. We could probably have a bit more traction but we have two more sessions to work on this and then we will try to get the best possible grid position again. The team is working so well and the ambience and atmosphere in our garage is amazing at the moment.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager Jorge Lorenzo
“The weather is unbelievable which we’re really happy about because it can be quite nasty here, but it looks like being very consistent, which is exactly what Jorge was today! He enjoyed it from the start and this showed in his times. We tried both the soft and hard Bridgestone tyres and worked a bit on the front, where he had some issues last year, but it looks good so far. We think the track will be about two seconds faster in the end so we can definitely find some more pace tomorrow, but we’ve made a good start here in Holland.”

Confident start for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 at Assen

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team made a flying start to the 80th staging of the legendary Dutch TT at Assen today. In unusually warm temperatures that peaked at 27 degrees, Colin Edwards made a welcome return to form at the iconic Assen circuit. The experienced American took to the track this afternoon using a new front-end geometry setting on his YZR-M1 machine and he immediately felt much more confident and able to show his true potential after a tough start to 2010.

Capitalising brilliantly on the improved turning performance as a result of the front-end setting modification, Edwards finished fourth an d was just 0.013s away from the top three. He easily finished leading non-factory rider with a best time of 1.35.699 as he looks to extend his impressive record of scoring points in every race so far this season.

Ben Spies also produced an encouraging display this afternoon, the reigning World Superbike champion determined to build on the momentum gained from his outstanding maiden MotoGP podium at Silverstone last weekend. The Texan was able to reel off a series of consistent laps and in the final ten minutes he stormed into the top four. A best lap of 1.35.942 saw Spies finish eighth but he was just 0.020s away from the top six. The hot conditions saw track temperatures soar to 44 degrees and Spies spent the session exclusively on the hard compound Bridgestone rear tyre option to gain crucial information ahead of Saturday’s 26-l ap race.
He will make minor set-up tweaks overnight to improve turning performance on his YZR-M1 and he is confident of claiming his first top six grid position in tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Colin Edwards – 4th, Time: 1.35.699, laps:25
“I really needed that after a tough start to the season and thanks to my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 who have been working really hard to improve my situation. I really like Assen and the change they made on the back section made it feel a little bit more like the old circuit. My bike is quite a bit different to what it has been this season and I’m running a front geometry setting that is a lot different to what I’ve ever run before. I’m just trying to make the bike turn easier and feel a little more natural and it is similar to the setting that Valentino and Jorge like.

I’ve got a lot more confidence than Silve rstone because that was not a positive weekend at all. This track is a lot more free flowing and you have to keep a lot of momentum and that suits my style. And I can just get the bike to turn better and that’s where I’ve been lacking. Now the bike feels great and I’m looking forward to a good weekend.”

Ben Spies – 8th, Time: 1.35.942, laps:29
“It was a decent session though we definitely need to make a couple of changes to the bike to make it a bit better in the longer turns. I had quite a good set-up at Silverstone to make the bike more nimble and we started with that setting here. But it wasn’t working that well so we’ll go back to what we know works tomorrow and I’m confident it should be better. I worked a lot on the hard race tyre and I’m definitely happy with the performance and the balance of the bike. I just need to make the bike turn better when I’m on the throttle. I ‘m really happy with corner entry but I’m losing a lot on the longer turns.

The target tomorrow will be to get on the second row and I’ve not managed that yet. But the times are so close that with a couple of improvements to the bike I’m sure that a top six is a realistic target. Looking at my last eight laps I’m not far off at all and I’m looking forward to another positive weekend.”

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