Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was quick to find his form today in the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Germany at the Sachsenring circuit. Despite needing crutches to walk following last weekend’s crash in Assen, the Mallorcan was quickly onto the pace. Lorenzo wrapped up the dry morning session less than three tenths from first and the afternoon wet session less than one tenth from the front.
Following a difficult weekend in Assen as a consequence of tyre issues Ben Spies spent the first free session here in Germany trying different set ups on his YZR-M1 but was unable to find answers. The team then reverted back to the tried and tested set up and made improvements in making him comfortable in the afternoon’s wet session. The Texan ended the second practice in ninth, 0.879 seconds from first.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position : 3rd Time: 1’22.647 Laps: 28
“I have more pain walking than on the bike which is good and adrenaline helps with it too. I’m not 100% and I get more tired in the upper body compensating but I think we still did a good job this morning and this afternoon. The injury, the loss of points and the loss of the engine makes it more difficult for the Championship but this just gives me more motivation to keep working and come back stronger to win.”
Ben Spies
Position : 10th Time: 1’23.353 Laps: 40
“This morning was a bit frustrating, we went out to try a couple of things that didn’t work, the bike wasn’t that bad we just made it a bit too slow. We ended up with a decent setting this afternoon when it was wet. I’m not too upset because when it’s rained here the last couple of years I’ve been horrible but this year although we were ninth we weren’t that far from the front. My feeling with the bike is good if it’s a wet race so we’ll wait and see if we get a dry session tomorrow.”
Wilco Zeelenberg– Team Manager
“A good first practice day here at the Sachsenring after last weekend’s accident in Assen. We were two tenths off the fastest guy in the dry practice this morning and less than one tenth off the fastest guy in the wet this afternoon. The bike feels good and is steering well so we’ll see what we can improve for tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregalli – Team Director
“A difficult start to the weekend for Ben, we tried some different set ups this morning to learn something more about the issue we had in Assen but unfortunately the changes didn’t give the right feeling on the bike. We went back to the old set up this afternoon but then it started raining. We had a few laps on the wet and his feeling was pretty ok so we’ll see tomorrow morning whether it’s dry or not but we’ll keep going and working to make improvements.”
