LORENZO GETTING CLOSER EVERY TIME
The German Grand Prix represents the ninth round of the season
for the FORTUNA HONDA team and it started today with an intense
day of practice in sweltering conditions, which have brought
with them the threat of a thunderstorms at the Sachsenring.
JORGE LORENZO, who finished sixth in the 125cc race here last
year, was the fastest in the morning session and took second
place in the afternoon qualifying practice, just two tenths
of a second off provisional pole position, which slipped out
of his fingers on the last lap. The Mallorcan youngster now
has high hopes of his first victory in the class in Sunday’s
race. HECTOR BARBERÁ ended up a little further back
than his team-mate in ninth place after a crash at the start
of the qualifying session. When he finally returned to the
track there were only eight minutes remaining and he had to
make the most of them with his second bike, which was not
set-up well enough to allow him to challenge for the provisional
pole position he had actually held for the opening few minutes.
Last year Barberá was second in the 125cc race at this
track. The influx of spectators to the track looks set to
surpass even the most optimistic of predictions, with over
200,000 spectators set to attend a Grand Prix that recorded
the third highest attendance of last season behind Jerez and
Valencia.
JORGE LORENZO (48):
Free practice-1: 1st-1.26.018 (27/27 laps)
Qualifying practice.-1: 2nd-1.25.540; + 0.268 (21/22 laps)
“I gave it everything but I couldn’t ride any
faster than that. There are a few areas on the track where
I have slight problems with the gearbox. Today we were a long
way off last season’s pole of 1.25.078 but I am convinced
that if it doesn’t rain tomorrow we could even get into
the 1.24s.”
HECTOR BARBERA (80):
Free practice -1: 8º-1.26.690 a 0.672 (19/31 laps)
Qualifying practice.-1: 9º-1.26.596 a 1.320 (16/23 laps)
“My crash was caused by the steering, which suddenly
folded under braking. It is clear that we have to work on
the suspension because it was a little too soft today. Then
when I took the other bike the settings were not to my liking
and I couldn’t do any more. I think I could have been
a little further forward if it wasn’t for the crash
but there is still the whole of tomorrow to keep making progress.”
POLE 04’: S. Porto (1.25.078)
RECORD: F. Nieto –Aprilia- (1.26.469), 03’
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