Perfect Pole for Lorenzo in Misano

[totalmotorcycle]

Perfect Pole for #Lorenzo in #Misano


The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team sprinkled a little Misano magic on qualifying this afternoon as Jorge Lorenzo set a scorching pace to score the first Factory Yamaha pole position start of the season.

Lorenzo wasn't the only Yamaha rider on fire either as teammate Valentino Rossi put in a stunning ride to secure third on the front row to the delight of his home crowd, just 0.064 seconds behind Lorenzo.

Putting yesterday’s rain and troubles behind him, Lorenzo was quick on to the circuit for the start of the 15 minute qualifying heat and straight to work. His first flying lap delivered a 1’33.604. He kept pushing for the second lap and shaved a little off to go second with a 1’33.502 before returning to the pits for fresh rubber.

He was back on track in confident mood with a little under six minutes remaining as an intense battle got underway for the front row. A flurry of fastest sections followed by numerous protagonists but it was Lorenzo who emerged the victor, taking provisional pole with two minutes left on the clock after a scorching 1’33.238 second lap time. The lap proved unbeatable, putting the Movistar Yamaha rider on pole for the first time this year.

Rossi took his time to leave the pit lane as qualifying got underway, allowing the pack to depart before heading out into clear space. Sharing his teammate’s confident form he put in an initial 1’33.756 to slot into fourth place. His second flying lap shaved a little off, delivering a 1’33.605 to hold provisional fourth on the second row.

The Doctor then returned to the pits for fresh rubber before hitting the track and putting the pressure on. The nine-time world champion left the best for last, starting with a 1’33.513 for fifth place he then delivered a perfect lap, a stunning 1’33.302 to move up to third on the front row, just 0.064 from Lorenzo on pole.



Jorge Lorenzo

1st / 1'33.238 / 8 laps

“Finally after a long, long time, we make a pole position so I’m very proud. From the beginning we’ve been competitive, not like in Silverstone where we had some issues. It seems like the Yamaha is working very well as Valentino is also very fast. I pushed hard in the beginning but maybe didn't know the perfect lines for the perfect lap. Then in the second tyre I made a very good lap time but just in the first section I lost one or two tenths because I made some mistakes and went wide. From section two I made an unbelievable lap so I’m very proud. The important thing is tomorrow, it’s the day we get the points so we have to make a good start and try to lead the race and win. Being on pole gives a small advantage at the start so I will try to make profit of it and push away in the first laps. It won’t be easy to go away as Vale has a good pace and the others will be there but I’m going to try.”






Valentino Rossi

3rd / 1'33.302 / 8 laps

“This morning was not so bad but this afternoon we made a huge step with the setting of the bike and with a used tyre I could be very fast, which is the most important thing for tomorrow. I’m so satisfied because it’s the first, first row of the season. I always struggle in qualifying. In the last races I was able to improve my level to stay always on the second row but the front row is so important for tomorrow, it’s much easier to start at the front. I’m also happy because my lap time is close to the pole position, I feel good with the bike, I had a good practice and I have a good setting. It looks like the Yamaha is very competitive here so we have to fix some small things and be ready for tomorrow.”




Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“We are very pleased with both Jorge and Vale after today’s performance. Jorge rode a perfect lap to take the team’s first pole position of the year. As we said yesterday we were confident we could work hard overnight and deliver a competitive set up for the guys today. Vale was equally impressive, I think for him also this is the best qualifying of the year, perfectly under control and so close in terms of time. Our set up and package is very competitive and balanced, we are consistently very fast and the tyres are working really well. We will work to make some further small steps overnight. With the same weather conditions forecast for tomorrow I’m confident we can have both riders very much in contention to share the podium in the race.”


Espargaro shines in Italy to seize seventh on the grid
Pol Espargaro surged to seventh position in today’s qualifying challenge which will see him begin tomorrow’s Misano Grand Prix from the head of the third row. The young Spaniard began the day positively in perfect weather conditions as the sun shone down in Italy and he went straight through to Q2 after clinching ninth in FP3. The rookie then embarked on the Q2 session with speed from the word go and powered to a best time of 1’33.557 on his sixth lap. His time was stunningly only three tenths of a second from the pole position. Furthermore, the fact that the reigning Moto2 World Champion clocked the quickest sector time in T4 impressively underlines how rapidly he was able to adapt, having ridden less than 90 minutes of dry track time aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 on this circuit. Espargaro now looks forward to tomorrow’s race where he will aim to challenge as the leading satellite MotoGP bike once again to strengthen his seventh place in the World Championship standings in his rookie season.

Meanwhile Bradley Smith will begin tomorrow’s 28 lap sprint around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from ninth place on the grid. The British rider began the day by completing the morning practice in eighth and setting the fastest T3 sector time. Later in FP4, Smith closed the session with a best time of 1’34.953 which saw him fully prepared for the 15 minute shootout Q2 session at the 4226 meter circuit. The 23-year-old rider sought to make an impact straight away, however, his attempts were prevented by a lack of traction from his rear tyre. Despite this, the British star battled onwards to produce a best time of 1’33.761, less than half a second from the final front row position of Valentino Rossi as well as being the fastest Yamaha through the speed trap with 285.5 km/h. From this grid placement at the rear of the third row, he will intend to undertake a rocket start and then ascend up the field to seize a top point scoring position.



Pol Espargaro

7th / 1'33.557 / 8 laps

“Considering that we just had one day of dry track time, I'm really satisfied with our qualifying performance. We have been truly fast plus a gap of just three tenths to the pole position is something we should be quite proud of. However, we could have been even higher up the grid but I made some mistakes in sector 1 and 2 on my fast lap which definitely cost me a lot of time. We have to be confident for tomorrow as the start will be crucial due to it being difficult to overtake at this circuit. I'm still a bit unsure about our race pace as due to the conditions we could not try a lot of laps with the same tyres, so tomorrow morning's warm up will be another important occasion for me to try a few more adjustments in order to be as prepared as possible for the 28 lap sprint.”






Bradley Smith

9th / 1'33.761 / 9 laps

“Finishing ninth for sure means things did not go according to plan and once again the start will be crucial for our performance tomorrow. I hoped to be a bit further up the grid but my feeling with the second tyre was not the same. I always use the first tyre in Q2 to get up to speed and then do my quick lap on the second but this time after we changed the tyres, the bike didn’t handle comfortably and I had high sides on each corner entry. With the nature of this circuit I wanted to be in the top six so that I could be in the best position for tomorrow. However, despite this it goes without saying that I am ready to get stuck and give it my all. As for the race pace, I’m still a little unsure but I rode FP4 on old tyres where I managed to do 1’34 lap times and of course when we start with fresh rubber it’s always easier. There’s a few things to try in warm up, but I am very pleased with how the bike handles during braking which is very important at Misano and I will need to be doing a lot of overtaking tomorrow to get to where I want to be.”



The NGM Forward Racing first Open bike at Misano
Only four tenths of a second is the gap between Aleix Espargaro and the pole man Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard from the NGM Forward Racing Team gave his best during the qualifying session setting a best lap of 1’33.713. First Open bike, Aleix Espargaro finished in eighth place and tomorrow will take the start of the Marino and the Riviera of Rimini Grand Prix from the third row.

It was a difficult session for team mate Alex De Angelis, who is still suffering from pain in his wrist due to the crash at Silverstone. Alex worked on the set up of the machine to improve the feeling under braking. He finished 19th with a lap time of 1’35.679.

The whole NGM Forward Racing Team is close to Simone Corsi, who is not going to race at Misano following the crash he had in Silverstone during the race. To wish him a good recovery, Aleix dedicated to his moto2 teammate a special helmet bearing the number 3.



Aleix Espargaro

8th / 1'33.713 / 7 laps

“We are only four tenths from the pole and we are all very close so tomorrow it will be a good race. I like Misano a lot and I expected a better result on this track. Yesterday we struggled, crashing twice. Anyway I’m optimist for tomorrow. Regarding the tyre for the race, I think we will go for the hard option.”






Alex De Angelis

19th / 1'35.679 / 8 laps

“My wrist is very painful and this prevents me to ride as I would like. Regarding the bike, we are struggling under braking, so we will continue to work on the set up of the bike trying to improve my feeling. As it happened at Silverstone, I couldn’t take the maximum out of the soft tyre during the qualifying, while the feeling with the hard compound is good and this is positive thinking about the race.”




2014 MotoGP San Marino

Marco Simoncelli, San Marino 13/09/2014

1 Jorge Lorenzo
Yamaha
ESP 1'33.238
2 Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 1'33.289
3 Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA 1'33.302
4 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 1'33.360
5 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'33.418
6 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 1'33.439
7 Pol Espargaro
Yamaha
ESP 1'33.557
8 Aleix Espargaro
Forward Yamaha
ESP 1'33.713
9 Bradley Smith
Yamaha
GBR 1'33.761
10 Stefan Bradl Honda GER 1'33.995
11 Yonny Hernandez Ducati COL 1'34.283
12 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 1'34.640
13 Cal Crutchlow Ducati GBR 1'34.495
14 Scott Redding Honda GBR 1'34.919
15 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 1'34.966
19 Alex De Angelis Yamaha SMR 1'35.679





Circuit Length:
4226
Weather:
Sunny
Fastest Lap Ever:
1'32.915
(Marc Marquez, 15-9-2013)
Last Years Winner:
Jorge Lorenzo