THIRD ROW PUTS LORENZO IN BETTER SHAPE FOR DUTCH CHALLENGE
Jorge Lorenzo finished his second day’s work in Assen
in a somewhat happier mood than yesterday, after qualifying
seventh for the 60th Dutch TT. The Fiat Yamaha Team rookie
was struggling yesterday but a good run with his Michelin
qualifying tyres this afternoon gave him confidence and he
will start tomorrow’s race ten places higher than he
started last Sunday’s in Donington.
After yesterday’s troubles a wet session this morning
was the last thing that Lorenzo and his team needed, and the
Mallorcan was languishing down in 15th place after the rain-hit
practice. The sun soon came out though and a strong wind helped
to dry the track out, meaning that the team were able to try
out a new dry setting in the first half of the afternoon session,
which seemed to work well. Things improved even more with
qualifying tyres; it was clear that Lorenzo was in much better
shape than last week and he will head the third row tomorrow,
alongside Chris Vermeulen.
Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi managed to qualify
third today and will be aiming to keep pace with championship
rivals Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, in first and second
respectively, when the lights go out at 1400 CET tomorrow.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position: 7th Time: 1'36.532 Laps: 26
“Today was a bit better than yesterday and I felt stronger,
even if the improvement is still not what I hoped for since
Donington. With race tyres we still have some problems, although
it was better than yesterday with a new setting, but with
my Michelin qualifying tyres I was able to push more and seventh
is not so bad for us today. The front riders are very fast
here and we know that to stay with them is going to be very
difficult, but I have more confidence today and so I hope
that I can be at least in the top seven. If I can do this
I will be happy. We still have to go step-by-step and if I
can improve a bit again tomorrow then I hope to be able to
push more within the next two or three races.”
Daniele Romagnoli
Team Manager
“Overall this afternoon was important and interesting
because we found some general improvement, even if we still
have more work to do. Unfortunately the weather didn’t
help us this morning and for us it was an almost useless first
session. In the afternoon we decided to try the new setting
that we found last night and, although our lap time was more
or less the same as yesterday, other riders were a bit slower
than yesterday with race tyres due to the different track
conditions and so this is actually encouraging for us. With
qualifying tyres we were able to be in seventh place, which
is much better than in Donington and gives us some confidence
for the race tomorrow.”
Qualifying Times
FRONT ROW
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'35.520
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'35.552
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'35.659
SECOND ROW
4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'35.975
5. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'35.985
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'36.278
THIRD ROW
7. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'36.532
8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'36.768
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.804
FOURTH ROW
10. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'36.823
11. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'36.899
12. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.948
FIFTH ROW
13. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'36.978
14. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'37.287
15. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'37.643
SIXTH ROW
16. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'37.793
17. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'38.726
Assen: Record Lap
N. Hayden (Honda) 2006, 1'37.106
Assen: Best Lap
J. Hopkins (Suzuki) 2006, 1'36.411
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