Movistar Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were back on track today in Argentina in qualifying for tomorrow's Grand Prix de la República Argentina. The duo enjoyed the best weather conditions yet of the weekend with sunshine and a dry track, Lorenzo taking fifth on the second row and teammate Rossi taking eighth on the third.

Mallorcan double premier class champion Lorenzo was as usual the first man on track and quick to break under the 39s with a first hot lap of 1'38.485, securing provisional second in the first flurry of activity. Unable to improve on the time he returned to the pits for fresh rubber before hitting the track again with just under seven minutes remaining. The second stint proved challenging and he was unable to better the first hot lap, settling for the second row start tomorrow.

Teammate Rossi‘s first flying lap put him into eighth in the standings with a 1'39.631. He then picked up the pace a little, dropping half a second to follow up with a 1'39.116, moving briefly to fifth before a flurry of competitor laps dropped him to sixth. He returned to the pits for a new rear and was back out with six minutes left on the clock. A last minute push was enough to break under the 39s and deliver a 1'38.890 for the third row.

Jorge Lorenzo - 5th / 1'38.485 / 8 laps 

"The pace was good at the beginning but it drops on the rear tyre as it wears. In qualifying my first lap was very good but the second one I made too many mistakes and I couldn't improve the time. It's a pity because without any mistakes I could be in second place. That's racing; sometimes you don't get the perfect lap. We will probably go for the harder rear tyre but we still have to decide on the front for tomorrow's race."
 
Valentino Rossi - 8th / 1'38.890 / 8 laps 

"I am very upset for the qualifying because I feel I could do better. Our strategy was not perfect, we arrived in traffic and unfortunately it was not possible to improve. On the other side, with the hard tyres the bike works well and I have a good pace, that is most important for the race. We have to work in some places as we still have some issues to solve, we will try to improve and do the best we can in the race. The normal tyre is too soft so I will probably use the extra hard rear for the race."

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director 

"The qualifying didn't go exactly as we expected. Overall we are satisfied as we improved step by step from the first practice sessions to today where in FP4 the pace was really good, so for the race we are still confident. We will definitely make another step for tomorrow's warm up and we will be ready to race. The tyre choice has been made so we are now focused on the fine-tuning. Both Jorge and Vale have been consistently fast, in FP4 Vale did his best lap at the end and showed he can be fast on used tyres. A double podium is definitely realistic goal for us."