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Yamaha MotoGP 2013 Austin qualifying report

April 21, 2013

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo took third position in the first ever qualifying session for the Grand Prix of The Americas today at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. The MotoGP World Champion was quick to find pace on his first time attack in the new format 15 minute qualifying heat, taking provisional pole briefly with ten minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately a mistimed trip through pit lane as the last minutes died away left him unable to mount another hot lap. The result sees Lorenzo take the third position on the front row of the grid next to rival Dani Pedrosa.

Team mate Valentino Rossi continued to struggle under braking today and was unable to find a set up for his YZR-M1 that would enable a challenge for the front row. The Italian pushed hard through the final practice and subsequent qualifying session, eventually settling for eighth position on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

Jorge Lorenzo

3rd / 2’04.100 / 6 laps

“What happened in qualifying is more or less what happened in all the sessions: our rivals are much more fast than us in pace and on a fast lap. Our best position we could do today was third. Tomorrow in the race anything could happen. If something strange happens we can fight for the win but in normal conditions third is a really good position for tomorrow. We hope that the race is going to be better than qualifying and we can be closer to Marc and Dani.”

Valentino Rossi

8th / 2’05.380 / 6 laps

“We expected to go better today but we were unable to fix the problem in braking, especially in the first part, and I lose too much time. We still have tomorrow, we knew that this weekend on this track it could be difficult and in fact it is. We have to make a good race and try to take as many points as we can.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager

“The front row is very good so we are satisfied with that, I think it was the maximum for today. The last tyre didn’t go well in qualifying, Jorge ended up in a group so he went in to the pit lane and didn’t realise we didn’t have enough time for another time attack. At the moment we are just one metre from pole position. The race is tomorrow and the bike is behaving ok so lets see what we can do as It’s quite clear we don’t have the advantage we had in Qatar. Anything can happen, the fast guys can make mistakes and the race is a long one, you have to stay focused and Jorge is very good at doing that.”

Massimo Meregalli – Team Director

“We are continuing to work hard to close the gap to the front. We will make some changes tonight and we will hopefully see the result in warm up. We know this is not the best circuit for us but we will continue to give 100%. Jorge made a good qualifying session but unfortunately he missed the opportunity to improve his lap time due to the mistake. To start this race from the front row is important. As a result of qualifying Vale will need a very aggressive start to the race. If we can make another step with the set up then he can definitely catch the riders in front of him.”