Lorenzo leads as European grand prix action kicks off in Jerez

The first European Grand Prix weekend of the 2013 season, The Gran Premio bwin de España, got underway today at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Southern Spain. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo started his first home Grand Prix of the year as he means to go on, one of the fastest riders of the morning he waited until the last second to retake the top spot in first practice. The afternoon saw more of the same from the reigning World Champion, Lorenzo leading from the start of the session and remaining unchallenged to the end, wrapping up in first position 0.171 seconds ahead of satellite Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow in second.

Valentino Rossi was also quick to find form today, spending the morning session firmly embedded in the fastest rider group within the top four and ending in third position. Having initially started the afternoon practice on the harder option tyres, Rossi switched to the softer with 10 minutes remaining, holding off the advances of Marc Marquez and moving up in the time sheets from fifth to fourth, completing the day just 0.312 seconds from Lorenzo in first.

Jorge Lorenzo, 1st, Time - 1'39.562

“At the beginning of the second practice I felt better than this morning but with the warmer temperatures it has been difficult to keep the same pace. We will have to work on the settings to keep the same pace for tomorrow. We need to try to improve our pace by three or four tenths, to ride comfortably in the 39s will be a good feeling. I’m happy that we are first in today’s two sessions but I want more.”

Valentino Rossi, 4th, Time -1'39.874

“The first and second practices were not so bad. We tried to work and understand a good balance for the bike. We still haven’t found the perfect way yet. We also tried to understand the right tyre choice for the race because it is difficult with the soft and also with the hard so we need to make sure we make the right choice to go fast on Sunday. Anyway, we are in fourth place and not so far from pole position. Tomorrow we have to try to continue to work in this way because it will be important for the race to start at the maximum within the first five.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“For sure I think a good day today, I would say at least a healthy day. We started with good circumstances for everybody, no wet conditions and good track temperatures. Like the test we were immediately fast. We’re still not quite where we want to be but of course we are working on it. Jorge has a good feeling and the speed is there so let’s see what we can do tomorrow in qualifying.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“So far the results confirm our expectations. We still have some work to do to improve the best lap and also the consistency. We were able to test two different things with good feedback so we’ll check the data tonight and compare it with the riders’ feelings. From the results we intend to come with some new solutions for tomorrow’s sessions.”

Yamaha Factory Team