Jorge Lorenzo fourth in opening Qatar practice session

With the 2015 MotoGP season finally underway, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi return to Qatar and finished the first free practice session under the floodlights of the Losail circuit in fourth and ninth place.

On a completely dry circuit, as opposed to the conditions last week on the final day of testing, both Lorenzo and Rossi made the most of their first practice session to be ready for Sunday‘s racing action.

Lorenzo, who currently holds the Qatar pole position record, showed he‘s in good shape and ready to start the title challenge. Back to his typical routine, he left his box early and was the first rider to complete a lap around the slippery circuit. After warming up his tyres, he was quick to post consistent times under the 1‘56 mark, dropping a 1‘55.698 lap as his fastest time. He ended the first practice in fourth position, just under 0,417s from the front.

As Qatar is the only night race of the season, there will be a second and third free practice session tomorrow.

Jorge Lorenzo
“Everybody has been quite fast on these new tyres, even if the track wasn‘t perfect. Moto2 almost broke a record, I think, but in MotoGP we need a little bit more grip. The track is dusty, so it looks like the bike is a bit flowy everywhere. It‘s difficult to have confidence but I think today our side has done a quite good job from the beginning. When I feel great on the bike, which wasn‘t on the last run, I feel great. To be honest, I hope to be much faster tomorrow. We are still a second from my best lap time from last year. We have a margin, but for a first practice, knowing the track is not perfect, this is not a bad start.”

Source: Yamaha Racing