Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies were both content with how the opening day of the MotoGP™ Test at Jerez went on Friday.
Yamaha Factory Racing made a purposeful start to the final 2012 pre-season Test today (Friday) at the Jerez circuit in Spain. Riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies were out for the first time in the new racing livery and looking very comfortable on their 1000cc YZR-M1s. Today was the first opportunity to test this evolution of the 1000cc M1 at a different track to Sepang.
Spies was the first rider to break under the 1’40” lap barrier with a 1’39.984, with team mate Lorenzo following quickly to take the lead with a 1’39.956. Lorenzo continued to pick up speed on one of his ‘home’ tracks, completing the first of the three days as the second fastest rider with a time of 1’39.419, 0.273 seconds behind Casey Stoner in first. Spies wrapped up the day in fourth having completed a race simulation, 0.838 seconds from first.
Jorge Lorenzo:
“Today was a very long day because we started at 10am and finished at 6pm. We did a lot of laps and it was very interesting to see how different the bike was compared to Sepang because it’s a different track. Here it is much slower and more corners, not so many straights. The 1000cc is not so easy compared to the 800cc here. At the end of the day we were able to be very fast and stay in the first three positions so we are satisfied.”
Ben Spies:
“Today was a positive day; we actually got more than we thought accomplished. We were able to look at the two tyres Bridgestone wanted us to test and also went through a couple of different settings on the bike. We did a race simulation to get one out of the way and we might do one more before the end of the test just to get me and the bike in tune for that many laps. Today’s run was to test the fuel consumption and we were happy with that. We can now focus pretty much on going fast and trying to improve the bike lap-time-wise and also improve me around the track! This isn’t a strong track for me so I’m quite happy that we’ve shown some decent pace around here. We’ve got a lot done and it’s been a good day.”
Yamaha Factory Racing press release
