| FREE PRACTICE REPORT | 13/08/2010 | | First and third for Lorenzo and Rossi as MotoGP restarts in Brno | | |  | Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi started the second half of the season in fine style today, finishing first and third in the first free practice session at Brno. However the team's work was cut a little short when light rain fell at the end of the practice, forcing the riders to sit out the last ten minutes.
Fresh from his summer holidays, Lorenzo was keen to get back on to the bike he has ridden to such success so far this season. The championship leader found a comfortable rhythm straight away and he was able to try both Bridgestone tyre compounds before the rain started to spot towards the end. His best lap was over half a second quicker than Dani Pedrosa in second and the 23-year-old is hoping for better weather tomorrow to allow him and his crew time to finish the tyre work they began today.
Rossi is in much better physical condition following the summer break and he felt considerably stronger as he climbed back on board his M1 today, although he did report some pain in his leg and shoulder later on in the session. His improved fitness was evident throughout as he was consistently at the top of the time sheets, finishing just 0.065 off Pedrosa. He tried two different settings and will decide tonight which is working best before fine-tuning it tomorrow in time for qualifying. |
| Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1st Time: 1'57.215 Laps: 19
"I am happy to be riding here in Brno again. It's always difficult to go back to work after the holidays and this track is so different to Laguna, so wide and much longer; it took me a few more laps than usual to get going! Once I found my rhythm this was a good session and I felt happy on my bike, with a good setting to start from. We tried both rear tyres and we need more time to choose, because unfortunately it rained a bit at the end and we had to stop early. We'll have to wait and see how the track is tomorrow but we hope for it to be dry so we can continue with what we started on today." |
|  | Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rd Time: 1'57.821 Laps: 21
"I'm happy, this was a good practice and I feel good on the bike. After some laps I started to feel some pain in the shoulder and the leg but in general I am okay and my condition has improved a lot from the last race. We've done a good job on the setting and I was fastest throughout most of the session. It was a pity the rain came because we couldn't make the final step, but hopefully we can improve again tomorrow. Even though I still have some pain I am quite a lot stronger, especially with the shoulder, so I don't have such a big problem in braking."
Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager "We had 45 minutes in the dry and we went very well, Jorge had a good feeling with the bike. We have some doubts about the rear tyre and whether to use the hard or the soft - we made some adjustments and we needed to check the setting again but then it rained so we didn't have the chance. But overall things are good and Jorge is feeling happy on the bike. We just need a bit more track time tomorrow to decide which rear tyre to use." |
|  | Davide Brivio - Team Manager "It was a good session because we tested two different settings and Valentino was almost constantly the fastest. Unfortunately it rained in the last fifteen minutes and we couldn't make our final test but it's okay, it seems we're in good shape. Tomorrow we will continue to fine-tune the setting and hopefully make another step with the lap times."
Edwards and Spies make positive return to action
The second half of the 2010 MotoGP campaign got underway in impressive fashion today for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo Colin Edwards and Ben Spies.
Refreshed after a short two-week summer break, Edwards was immediately able to set a fast pace on board his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine as he tried an experimental front-end geometry setting in today's opening practice session at the Brno circuit.
Edwards was a permanent fixture in the top six throughout as he took full advantage of the improved turning performance from the revised front setting.
Making solid progress with the extra confidence created by the changes as the session wore on, Edwards clocked a best time of 1.58.497 to finish top non-factory rider in sixth position as he edged out former world champion Casey Stoner. The 36-year-old had been as high as fourth at the halfway stage.
Spies declared himself satisfied with his afternoon's work as a best lap of 1.58.970 secured him the ninth fastest time.
Earlier bright sunshine had quickly given way to cloudier conditions when the session commenced and Spies' hopes of lowering his lap times were thwarted when light rain started to fall in the final 15 minutes. The short rain shower fell at the worst moment for the 26-year-old, who was poised to undertake a series of laps on a new front-end geometry setting he was convinced would help him move further up the leaderboard.
Spies, who won one World Superbike race at the technical and challenging Czech Republic circuit last season, had been as high as sixth place and is confident with more time on the revised front-end setting that he can be challenging for a top six result in Sunday's 22-lap race. |
|  | Colin Edwards - Position 6th Time: 1.58.497 - 17 laps
"I felt pretty good immediately and I feel like we should be in for a strong weekend if we can build on the momentum from today. A lot this season we have started on the back foot a bit and spent the whole weekend playing catch-up. But we've got a platform to build on and that's mainly down to a new front-end setting we tried. Thanks to my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 because they came up with this experimental setting and it worked really well. We put more weight on the front and I like it better than what I started the session on. Now the bike holds the turn a lot better and I'm not running wide. We've put more force t hrough the front tyre to help it turn and I'm sure we can make another step tomorrow if we get dry conditions. I've never had a top six here before, so after this start I'm hoping to put that right on Sunday."
Ben Spies Position 9th Time: 1.58.970 - 20 laps
"We started with the setting from Laguna Seca and I just couldn't quite reach the pace of where I needed to be. But I know there is definite room for improvement. The first bike I just couldn't get working like I needed and we'd got quite a bit different front-end setting in the second bike. Right when I started my out lap on the second bike though I could see sprinkles of rain. I was trying to get round as quick as I could to at least get one fast lap in to try and compare the different front set-up and I'm pretty sure we've found something with that direction. The second bike should make it easier for me to roll through the middl e of the corner because I was having to hold the brake a bit too much on the other bike to help it turn. I'm pretty frustrated because that bit of rain stopped me from getting in a few laps to properly try it and get some data. I wasn't fussed about bettering my time, I just wanted to feel the difference. But I'm 90 per cent sure that the second bike set-up is the way we need to go." |
| | 2010 MotoGP Czech Republic - Brno 13/08/2010 | | Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time | | 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 1'57.215 | | 2 | Daniel Pedrosa | Honda | ESP | 1'57.756 | | 3 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 1'57.821 | | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | ITA | 1'57.873 | | 5 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | USA | 1'58.286 | | 6 | Colin Edwards | Yamaha | USA | 1'58.497 | | 7 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | AUS | 1'58.532 | | 8 | Marco Simoncelli | Honda | ITA | 1'58.840 | | 9 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 1'58.970 | | 10 | Alvaro Bautista | Suzuki | ESP | 1'59.204 | | 11 | Loris Capirossi | Suzuki | ITA | 1'59.216 | | 12 | Aleix Espargaro | Ducati | ESP | 1'59.254 | | 13 | Mika Kallio | Ducati | FIN | 1'59.289 | | 14 | Marco Melandri | Honda | ITA | 1'59.510 | | 15 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | ESP | 1'59.910 |
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