Following on from his eventful weekend in China two weeks ago, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo was back on his M1 at Le Mans today, battling on despite the pain of two fractured ankles. The injuries he sustained in China have not yet had time to fully recover but the 21-year-old is able to ride and finished the day an impressive fourth in the overall standings, despite a small crash this afternoon.
It was straight down to business from the off this morning for the Mallorcan and he finished the first session second in the standings, despite this being the first time he has ridden a MotoGP bike at this track. This afternoon he continued to work on refining his settings and tyre choices and the Michelin rider was able to improve on his time from the morning by 0.3 seconds, despite losing grip and sliding out at turn two near the end of the session. Luckily however he escaped any further injury and the damage to his bike was also minimal. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon, whilst the time sheets were topped by Dani Pedrosa.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position: 4th
Time: 1'34.487
Laps: 56
“The first thing I did when I crashed this afternoon was to stand up in order to check that I hadn’t done any more damage! Luckily it’s okay and I don’t think I have made anything worse and at the moment I don’t need to have any injections, which is better for me. The pain in my ankles is not so bad and to ride is okay, the main problem is that I am lacking the confidence that I know I should have, but I just need to keep thinking positively and I am sure that this will come soon. We need to work on the electronics a bit and also the suspension, and then I think we can make another step, but anyway we’ve made a good start today overall. If it stays dry then I think I will have the possibility to fight for the pole position, but if it’s wet it will be a different story so we are hoping for good w eather!”
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager “Unfortunately this afternoon Jorge crashed in turn two, when he was at the maximum lean angle and he lost the front and the rear. After China it was a fright for everyone but he got up quickly and luckily he is okay, as is the bike! Aside from this, his performance today has been very good considering his physical condition and it seems he’s able to ride okay. We need to work on the grip under acceleration because at the moment the bike is a bit unstable, and we also need to improve the contact in the front because we’re wheelying a bit too much. It’s been a good start though and tomorrow we will keep going like this and try to improve even more.”
Ambient temperature: 19 degrees
Track temperature: 27 degrees
Humidity: 33%
Combined Free Practice Times: 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'34.227
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'34.276
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'34.287
4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'34.4875. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'34.630
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'34.886
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'35.047
8. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'35.073
9. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'35.133
10. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'35.239
11. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'35.256
12. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'35.378
13. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'35.450
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'35.678
15. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'35.848
16. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'35.877
17. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'36.039
18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'36.414
Le Mans:
Record Lap: V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1'35.087
Best Lap: C. Edwards (Yamaha) 2007, 1'33.616
