Home hero Jorge Lorenzo made a scorching start to the Grand Prix of Catalunya today, dominating the second free practice session from the start. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was the only rider under the 1’43 mark for most of the session. Lorenzo was briefly off the top spot as a flurry of fast laps came in as the session wound down, but swiftly retook it with a blistering 1’42.099, 0.207 seconds clear at the top.

Team mate Ben Spies was clearly enjoying the Catalunya circuit today. Building speed from the first session to the second, he was the first rider to threaten Lorenzo’s top spot in practice two and the second rider to break under the 1’43 mark. A fast consistent pace saw the Texan wrap up the day in seventh on the combined times, with a fastest lap of 1’42.802.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position 1st - Time: 1'42.099 - Laps 31

“The feeling is good today, we started this morning two tenths behind Casey, then this afternoon from the beginning we’ve been in first position. We tried the hard rear tyre which is very important for this track because it’s a real possibility for the race on Sunday. We must improve some little details, especially the braking as we are arriving in the corners at a very high speed but generally we are good. This is a special race for me so close to my home, I really want to be fighting for the podium and the victory for the fans who have come to see me.”

Ben Spies - Position 7th - Time: 1'42.802 - Laps 33

“I’m happy, it was a good day. We didn’t set the world on fire but we got down to some decent times and got comfortable on the bike. I think we’ve got some stuff figured out for tomorrow to make the bike quite a bit better. I know what I want out of it; we just need a bit of a different set up. The bike is working really good and the team’s working well, we just need to make the set up a bit better so I can push it harder.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“A very good session this afternoon. It’s still not perfect, we are struggling a bit on braking so we need to try and get the bike stopped better on the end of the straight. Overall we are very happy with our position, P1 is always nice! So far we’re quite pleased, we’ll now work to improve for tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“A good start today for both riders. Jorge is leading; he clearly has the pace and a good base set up. On Ben’s side we are satisfied because he pushed from the start in the morning. His approach is really good so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. We have some settings to adjust but overall it’s looking good.”


Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso set a scorching pace in baking hot conditions at the Catalunya track this afternoon to finish the opening day of practice for the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya inside the top four.

With temperatures at the technically demanding Catalunya circuit soaring to a sizzling 29 degrees, Crutchlow and Dovizioso were able to carry out vital work on the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines in preparation for Sunday's 25-lap race.

Crutchlow impressed in this morning's sun drenched opening session to set the fourth fastest time in a closely contested practice that saw the top 11 split by less than 0.8s. After tweaking the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine to improve grip as track temperatures rocketed to over 50 degrees, Crutchlow was able to lap over 0.8s faster this afternoon.

The British rider's best pace of 1.42.477 put him third on the combined leaderboard and he was just 0.348s behind World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, who set the opening day pace in front of his home crowd.

Dovizioso also enjoyed a positive and productive start to the fifth round of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship to finish just one place and 0.145s behind Crutchlow on the timesheets.

The Italian was ninth fastest this morning, but like Crutchlow he was able to lap considerably faster in the second session. Dovizioso, who has finished fourth in three of his four MotoGP appearances at the Catalunya track, set a best time of 1.42.592. That was almost 0.8s faster than his best in the opening session as he concentrated on assessing tyre endurance in the hot conditions.

Cal Crutchlow - Position 3rd - Time: 1'42.447 - Laps 38

“Today was a good start to the weekend and I was fast and competitive in both sessions. The bike was working well right from the start but we can definitely improve it for the rest of the weekend. I need to focus on being faster in the last two corners. On times I'm not too bad in that part of the track but I don't feel very comfortable, so we need to work on the setting to improve in that section for tomorrow. I am not so far away from the top and can definitely improve my pace, but my best time was done on the soft tyre at the end. I see Casey and Dani only used the hard tyre, so you have to believe that they will be much higher up. I am still happy with my performance today and it is always good to make a positive and fast start to the weekend to build up confidence.”

Andrea Dovizioso - Position 4th - Time: 1'42.592- Laps 41

“I am really satisfied with the work we did today. The times I did were quite fast but we have a lot of margin to improve. I did my best lap time using a soft rear tyre but I didn't change the front tyre for the whole session. If I had a new front with the new soft rear then I am sure I could have been quicker but it wasn't worth pushing too hard. I have spent most of the day working on the endurance of the tyres and concentrating on the set-up of the bike to work well for the end of the race when the grip is less. In this heat it will be the rider who can keep the best grip for the longest that will have a good chance in the race, so we worked on this area a lot today and gained some important information. Finally I'd like to show my support for the victims of the recent earthquakes in Italy. This is a difficult moment for many people and my thoughts and prayers are with them.”

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