Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo took third position in the first ever qualifying session for the Grand Prix of The Americas today at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin Texas. The MotoGP World Champion was quick to find pace on his first time attack in the new format 15 minute qualifying heat, taking provisional pole briefly with ten minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately a mistimed trip through pit lane as the last minutes died away left him unable to mount another hot lap. The result sees Lorenzo take the third position on the front row of the grid next to rival Dani Pedrosa.
Team mate Valentino Rossi continued to struggle under braking today and was unable to find a set up for his YZR-M1 that would enable a challenge for the front row. The Italian pushed hard through the final practice and subsequent qualifying session, eventually settling for eighth position on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd, Time - 2'04.100
“What happened in qualifying is more or less what happened in all the sessions, the Hondas, Marc and Dani in particular, are much more fast than us in pace and on a fast lap. Our best position we could do today was third. Tomorrow in the race anything could happen. If something strange happens we can fight for the win but in normal conditions third is a really good position for tomorrow. We hope that the race is going to be better than qualifying and we can be closer to Marc and Dani.”
Valentino Rossi, 8th, Time - 2'05.380
“We expected to go better today but we were unable to fix the problem in braking especially in the first part and I lose too much time. We still have tomorrow, we know that this weekend on this track it can be difficult and in fact it is. We have to make a good race and try to achieve some positions and take some points.”
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Press Release
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