Two weeks after crashing during practice in Catalunya and ruling himself out of his home race, Jorge Lorenzo made a welcome return to the track on his Fiat Yamaha M1 at the British Grand Prix today. After his sensational start to the season, the youngest rider on the grid has undergone a torrid time since fracturing both his ankles in China at the start of May and he is now riding with a special glove on his right hand to protect the skin graft that he underwent 12 days ago.
Lorenzo’s focus today was simply to find the feeling back on board his bike and to build his confidence, which he freely admits has suffered in his recent string of crashes. The Michelin rider finished the day a lowly 16th in the combined standings but is looking forward to feeling more relaxed and confident tomorrow and trying to improve things step-by-step. His team-mate Ross i, who is contesting his 200th race this weekend, finished the day third, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.
Jorge Lorenzo Position: 16th
Time: 1'30.290
L
aps: 51
“Today was always going to be a hard day for me and I had to start very slowly because honestly I felt some fear after all of my problems! I haven’t ridden since the crash in practice in Catalunya and I have lost some confidence, so the aim this weekend is just to find it again. Today the main target was to try to find my feeling with the bike and also to check my physical shape, which is okay although I do have some pain in my hand and finger where I had the skin graft. I am happy to be back however and I hope that the worst is over and that tomorrow I will be more relaxed and have more confidence. We are starting from scratch again this weekend so we have to go step-by-step and take things slowly.”
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager “Finally we have Jorge back after Barcelona and we’re very pleased about this! Now we are just looking to re-build his confidence by taking things gently and easily, without risking too much. For sure he will need some time before he is back to his best but there is no pressure on him. Meanwhile we also need to work hard on improving the bike setting because we are lacking some rear grip and the bike is quite nervous at full lean. Together with Michelin we will analyse the data tonight and study some solutions to help us with this tomorrow.”
Combined Free Practice Times 1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'28.253
2. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'28.829
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'28.909
4. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'28.969
5. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'28.992
6. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'29.207
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'29.207
8. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'29.341
9. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'29.410
10. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'29.433
11. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'29.441
12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'29.666
13. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'29.718
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'29.856
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'30.268
16. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'30.290 17. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'30.766
18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'30.931
Donington Park: Record Lap: D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'28.714
Best Lap: D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'27.676
