Jorge Lorenzo 6th on day one in Argentina

With just a couple of days rest following the Texas Grand Prix last weekend, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team were back on track today for the first practice session of this weekend‘s GP de la República Argentina.

The first morning session at the Autòdromo Termas de Río Hondo was taken gently by riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, the two testing the grip levels as the premier class group added fresh rubber to the slippery circuit. Rossi completed the first free practice session in 14th and teammate Lorenzo in 20th.

The second session saw light rain in the opening minutes, but the drama was short lived and the track quickly dried. The two Yamaha Factory riders gradually picked up their pace, taking over four seconds off their FP1 times as the grip levels rose.

The improvements continued lap by lap to end with Lorenzo in sixth, 0.687 from the top and Rossi in ninth, 1.171 from first.

Jorge Lorenzo
“The grip obviously improved from the first practice to the second and I felt really good with the hard tyre. We put a soft tyre in to improve the lap time towards the end and we were able to do it. Apart from Alex Espargarò with the extra soft tyre we are very close to the rest so let‘s see for tomorrow. There‘s going to be less of a difference than between today‘s sessions but there should be a positive improvement and the rear tyre should last longer. I have a good feeling for the hard tyre so we need to find a good set up for the soft too.”

Source: Yamaha Racing