American Ben Spies ran in second behind Lorenzo before dropping slightly to fifth, 0.7 seconds from the front at the end. In the afternoon session the Texan improved his pace, but had to settle with sixth position.
Jorge Lorenzo
"We started in a very good way here, much better than in Aragón where we had issues with the life of the rear tyre. We have a very good pace and with a little change in the electronics were able to go a bit faster. We tried with the hard tyre, for me it’s not better than the soft although we can go fast on it. For tomorrow I think the soft one will be better. The Hondas are very good here but our bike is also so I think we can fight with them for the victory."
Ben Spies
"Today wasn’t bad, the second session was a bit slow in the beginning but we got going pretty well in the end. We didn’t try the soft rear but focused on trying to make the hard tyre work in case it’s the race tyre. I think it’s unlikely as everyone who went out faster than us at the end was on the softer option, so to be eight tenths off on the hard is not so bad. I think with the soft we’ll see a true result of where we can be and what the bike is capable of."
Press release courtesy of Yamaha Factory Racing.
