Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's Jorge Lorenzo is the fastest man of the first day in Jerez. Teammate Valentino Rossi started the weekend focusing on his race set up and finished ninth in the combined standings.

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi rode on European soil for the first time this season during today's free practice sessions ahead of Sunday's Gran Premio de España.



The teammates needed little time to re-familiarise themselves with their YZR-M1s at the Circuito de Jerez de la Frontera. Posting a 1'39.174 lap, Lorenzo was quick to take the top spot on the leaderboard during the morning session, with Rossi not far behind in sixth, 0.698s off today's fastest time.



During the afternoon practice the teammates had to deal with scorching hot weather, making the track more slippery. This slowed down the times, but didn't faze Lorenzo. After getting used to the warmer track temperatures, the four-time World Champion quickly returned to his pace from this morning and wrapped up FP2 with a fastest session time of 1'39.300.

Rossi used the session to focus on the set up of his YZR-M1 using the harder tyre option. He was unable to improve on his time and finished thirteenth, 1.094s from the front.

Today's results put Lorenzo and Rossi first and ninth respectively in the combined free practice times.

Jorge Lorenzo - 1st / 1'39.174 / 38 laps 

"My mentality from this morning was to go for it and don't think too much, just try to ride according to my instinct and it worked very well, especially in the morning. In the afternoon we tried the hard rear tyre that was very bad, with lots of spinning for everyone and I decided to go back to the softer one, since that one is much better in cold but also in warmer conditions. Yamaha and I did great things together in the past. In the last two years I felt less good, but we focused on the year and now it seems we're coming back stronger. We will have to demonstrate it tomorrow and especially on Sunday. Yesterday was a great day for me and I am very grateful that Yamaha has faith in me even in very hard moment. I want to show my form again on the track tomorrow with my speed."

 Valentino Rossi - 9th / 1'39.872 / 38 laps 

"It was a difficult practice, especially this afternoon. I think I could have gotten a better position but I decided to use just the harder option and work with just that tyre, because we thought that was the best tyre for the race. Unfortunately the performance is very low and the lap time isn't good enough, so I think that also the soft can be an option too, but it will be difficult. With the high temperature in the afternoon the track makes you slide a lot and it's very difficult to control the bike. We had a lot of troubles in acceleration, because we suffer from wheel spin and the bike isn't stable. We are not good with the setting yet, so we have to try and improve for tomorrow morning. We have a lot of things to do; a different balance of the bike, different tyres and other options."

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director 

"We did a good amount of work today and we were able to collect a lot of information for tomorrow. Compared to the morning session, the track conditions changed a lot in the afternoon. Jorge started really strongly and led both practice sessions. This will give him a good basis to work on this weekend. Valentino worked on his set up with the hard rear tyre, especially during the second practice, and didn't focus too much on lap times. So far the hardest compound didn't work as we expected. The weather forecast for tomorrow is good so this gives us two entire practices to further improve our bikes."