Fantastic Double Front Row for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP as Lorenzo Breaks CzechGP Record

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Fantastic Double Front Row for #Movistar @Yamaha #MotoGP as Lorenzo Breaks #CzechGP Record




@Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi delivered brilliant performances today in qualifying for tomorrow's Grand Prix České Republiky, Lorenzo breaking the record of fastest lap for a stunning pole position and Rossi claiming his second front row start of the season.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's Jorge Lorenzo put maximum effort into this afternoon's qualifying session, delivering pole position for tomorrow's race at the flowing Automotodrom Brno.
Lorenzo wasn't the only Yamaha rider on fire either as teammate Valentino Rossi put in a stunning ride to secure third, just 0.364 seconds from pole, for a first double front row qualifying result for the factory Yamaha team since Misano 2014.
After he displayed a dominant form in the third and fourth free practice session this morning, Lorenzo again confirmed he is a force to be reckoned with during the qualifying heat.
The Spaniard was the last rider to head out on track at the start of the 15 minute session to be assured of some clear space to crank out a hot lap and went to work immediately. His first flying lap delivered a 1'55.238, smashing his own lap record and shooting him straight to provisional pole.
He hurried back into the pits for fresh rubber with seven and a half minutes remaining and was back on track in confident mood with a little under six minutes on the clock, ready to raise the level even further. He broke another record with his next flying lap, the first ever lap under the 1'55 mark with a 1'54.989. He had time for two more laps, but was unable to further improve upon his incredible lap time and will start tomorrow's race from a well-deserved pole position.
Teammate Rossi also gave a strong performance this afternoon. Having been quick in today's practice session the Italian made best use of the qualifying tyres in the quick fire heat. He left pit lane as one of the first riders, but headed straight back after scrubbing in his new front tyre.
He returned to the track with twelve minutes left of the session, his first lap of 1'56.345 putting him in seventh place. He kept pushing as everyone else was changing tyres and posted a 1'55.856 for fourth before arriving back at the box for another tyre with four minutes of the session left.
He rejoined the fight less than a minute later for a final attempt to improve his grid position as a last minute flurry of activity pushed him back to fifth. He gave his all on his final lap and delivered a brilliant 1'55.353 for third position on the front row of the grid.



Jorge Lorenzo

1st / 1'54.989 / 7 laps

"I am really proud of my two lap times, because the first one was as impressive as the second but just not enough to make the pole position. In the end I had to improve the lap time by two or three tenths to keep an advantage over Marc. I didn't expect my time, but I didn't expect those from Marc or even Valentino either, but everyone was pushing so much and they improved a lot. My pole position lap was very good, almost perfect, except maybe the last corner wasn't because I had a lot of wheel spin, but a perfect lap is impossible, so we have to be very satisfied. I am confident for tomorrow because I think we have a great base setting. We will see tomorrow what the weather is like, how our rivals are doing after some laps, but we are confident."






Valentino Rossi

3rd / 1'55.353 / 7 laps

"I think a first row start is going to be very important because Jorge and Marc will be very fast from the beginning and if you start from behind it will be impossible to stay with them, so I'm very happy with this result, also because we worked very well with the team. Already this morning we found a good way to proceed, but this afternoon we improved the setting and were able to also have a good pace, and like I said it's very important to start from the front row, because it will be a very hard race."




Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
"A fantastic pole position from Jorge, his first lap was already impressive, but the second part of the session was even better. It was also a really good qualifying from Vale, we're happy with third place and a front row start. The set up of the bike is working very well for both riders, so we will look for some minor last improvements that we can test in the warm up, during which we will decide which tyre we will use in the afternoon. We are feeling confident that tomorrow we will see a hot race, both in temperature and in racing action."