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Jorge Lorenzo shook off last Sunday's disappointment and
got straight down to business at the Sepang
International Circuit today, finishing the first free
practice session in first place. His fellow Fiat Yamaha
rider Valentino Rossi, who is looking to wrap up the
MotoGP World Championship this coming Sunday, was fourth fastest on a
typically hot and humid day in Malaysia.
Rossi and Lorenzo were first and second
for most of the first half of the session, both quickly
finding a good rhythm on their M1s around the 5.548km
circuit despite the oppressive heat. Casey Stoner took
control in the last ten minutes but some quick last-minute
laps from 22-year-old Lorenzo saw him move to the top of the
timesheets and finish the practice 0.064 seconds ahead of
the Australian despite some pain in his little finger - a
hangover form Sunday's crash.
Rossi ended the day 0.684 seconds down on
his team-mate but is confident that the information gathered
today will enable him to make a step forward tomorrow
morning. Today marked ten years to the day since the Italian
won the second world championship of his career, in the
250cc class at the Rio Grand Prix in 1999.
Jorge Lorenzo
(Position: 1st; Time: 2'02.180; Laps: 23)
"I was riding quite aggressively today and I felt good on
the bike right from the start, so I am very happy about this
after what happened last weekend. It's very hot and it's
really hard work to ride out there, but I feel okay.
Unfortunately I have some pain in my finger where I hurt it
on Sunday, it's not too bad but the cut is right on the
knuckle, so it's a bit painful when I have to bend it to
brake. Anyway, like I said on Sunday it could be a lot
worse! I love riding at this track despite the heat and our
bike is working well so I am hopeful for a good weekend."
Valentino Rossi
(Position: 4th; Time: 2'02.864; Laps: 23)
"I am quite happy about today, even if the time and the
position isn't perfect. We worked mainly with old tyres to
understand the nature of the bike when it's sliding, which
is important here, but actually my pace was very consistent
and I think we can make another step tomorrow. It seems that
Bridgestone have brought good tyres here, they are working
very well despite the very hot temperatures and the fact
that the track is a little bit dirty today. We still need to
find a little bit more grip so we will look to improve the
setting of the bike for this in the morning - it's going to
be very important to be on the front row for Sunday. I think
the race will be very hard and we will have to take care to
prepare properly and drink a lot of water because it is
very, very hot." al
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager, Lorenzo
"We've tried to use this first session to get as much
information as possible; we've worked on many different
settings to help us to understand what might be important
tomorrow and on Sunday. We were faster at the start and less
so later - the other riders made an improvement - but now we
have a lot of data and we just need to put it all together
in order to improve our pace tomorrow."
Davide Brivio - Team Manager, Rossi
"Today was generally good for us and we felt confident, like
we have in all the sessions this season apart from at
Phillip Island. It was important today to check Jorge's
physical condition and his finger after last Sunday, but
luckily it seems to be not so bad. We have tested all the
tyres and we've collected some data which we hope will help
us to improve our setting further tomorrow, when we will try
to build on this good start."
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