Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies got off to a promising start today in the first two free practice sessions for the Grand Prix of USA on Sunday. Lorenzo was extremely quick to find his pace, dominating the morning session and wrapping up just 0.074 seconds form Dani Pedrosa in first. The afternoon saw more of the same, although ten minutes was spent with a set up that proved to be the wrong direction. Lorenzo finished day one in second, 0.334 seconds from provisional pole.
Ben Spies was also quick to find form, clearly at home on the US track. The Texan rider spent some time working on used tyres with a fast consistent pace, holding fourth position in the morning and the same in the afternoon. Spies finished the day just 0.286 seconds from his team mate.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position : 2nd Time: 1’21.422 Laps: 30
“This afternoon we tried the hard rear tyre but it didn’t work as well as the soft one this morning. We have to try the soft again tomorrow to improve the setting for the hard so we can decide which tyre to use for the race. We also tried a different setting in the last ten minutes of FP2 but it didn’t improve anything so we lost that time. I’m hoping to improve both the feeling and also the lap time for tomorrow.”
Ben Spies
Position : 4th Time: 1’21.708 Laps: 39
“Today was good, we worked on a lot of laps on the soft tyre in the morning when the track wasn’t so great but not too bad either. We did a lot of laps on the old tyres and the bike was pretty quick so I’m happy with that. The bike’s got a good balance, we just need to fine-tune it to get a few more tenths out of it but I think for race pace we’re looking good.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“It was a good first day, very consistent lap times from Jorge. Dani looks a little better at the moment but we are very good on pace. We have to try some things tomorrow to find out which tyre will work best in the hotter conditions. We have space to improve, we were as fast in the afternoon as we were in the morning and we believe there is still some space to step forward.”
Massimo Meregalli – Team Director
“A good start, we found a good balance and a good rhythm, both bikes seem to be working really well. We are definitely on the right direction so we will work on some details for tomorrow and we will see if we can improve. We have to decide which tyre we are going to use for the race as it’s not clear yet, at the moment both choices could be used.”
