Lorenzo deflated about gap to the front, finishing first day in 5th

The first track sessions of the French round of the 2011 MotoGP Championship were played out under glorious sunshine in Le Mans today. Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies spent the morning and afternoon free practice sessions working through a number of chassis set-up changes and tyre options in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Lorenzo wrapped up the day in fifth having taken just over half a second off his morning time with improved set-up. The reigning World Champion will focus on improving his bike’s ability to turn in tomorrow morning’s final free practice ahead of the afternoon qualifying session.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position 5th – Time 1.34.659 – Laps 45
“As I’ve said before, this year it’s going to be a difficult year. Some of the other riders are much faster than before. We’re working hard and we are trying a lot of things to improve the bike. We will keep on, we made some improvements over today and I hope tomorrow we will make a step and be a bit faster.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“The second session went a bit better but we’re not completely happy and satisfied as we are still missing some ‘turnability’. We improved a bit from the morning, Jorge was more consistent and a bit faster but for sure he wants more and we do need it. Hopefully tomorrow we can make another step without losing our strong points because at the moment braking on corner entry is quite good.”

Source: Yamaha Racing