Yamaha Czech GP Friday report

Yamaha Factory Racing get back to business in Brno

Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies blew off the cobwebs after their holidays and spent both practice sessions making the first steps in set up ahead of the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky race.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Yamaha Motor Racing

World Champion Lorenzo and his crew were focused on improving the stopping ability and turning ability going into corners over the two sessions. He finished the morning session in fourth, 1.259 seconds from first and improved in the afternoon, remaining fourth but reducing the gap to first to 0.720 seconds.

Spies performance echoed his fellow Factory Yamaha team mate, finishing the morning session in sixth 1.575 seconds from first and improving in the afternoon. He retained sixth position but reduced the gap to first to 1.177 seconds. The Texan rider’s performance was hampered by numbness in his left arm caused by a trapped nerve in his neck which is being treated by Clinica Mobile after each session.

Jorge Lorenzo:
“Today’s sessions have not been exactly as we expected. We are struggling a bit on braking and we lose too much time over the lap. Tomorrow we will work hard to improve the bike in the morning to be ready for qualifying because at this moment we are pretty far from the front.”

Ben Spies:
“It was an ok day for us, I’m actually pretty happy with the results. I’ve got a little bit of a pinched nerve in my neck and I’m struggling a little bit on the bike but I’m still giving it 100%. Lap times aren’t too bad I’m just not able to put too many laps together in a row. We’re going to do a lot of physio over the next couple of days to get it where it’s comfortable for the race and I’m pretty optimistic about how we can turn things around for Sunday.”