Lorenzo leads the way at Silverstone

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) was the fastest rider as the AirAsia British Grand Prix weekend got underway at Silverstone, taking the new circuit layout in a best time of 2:05.991 in the first practice on Friday.

The Spaniard set his best lap with just over 11 minutes to go, and the end of the session was marked by spots of rain under a cloudy sky.

"I'm happy with our first day's work here at Silverstone and I've really enjoyed the new circuit; it's fast and fun to ride,” said Lorenzo, the sole representative for his team in Valentino Rossi’s continued absence through injury. “We've worked really hard and I've ridden a lot of laps in order to begin to understand every corner and every straight.”

Lorenzo, who has a 25-point lead at the top of the standings going into Sunday’s race and has not finished outside the top two in the four races so far, continued: “Unfortunately it was cold today and the asphalt was cold too, which meant that without any reference points in the beginning it was quite difficult, but hopefully tomorrow and Sunday will be better.”

One of only two riders in the MotoGP class to have ridden the track before its redevelopment Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) was second on the timesheet. The Australian completed 18 laps on his Desmosedici GP10, the final of which registered his best time at 0.142 secs. off Lorenzo.

“The layout of the track is simply fantastic,” he beamed. “It is great fun to ride and some of the corners are awesome. Unfortunately there are a few bumps on the ‘old’ part of the track where the asphalt hasn’t been relaid but when they get around to doing it I think we can safely say it will be one of the best circuits in the world.

“We’ve worked hard on the set-up today and for the moment we are still looking for the right solution. The bike was a little too stiff for the bumps and it was difficult to find the limit or understand how fast we can really go. We’ll make some changes tomorrow and hope the weather is good to us.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), fresh off the back of a home podium finish at Mugello, continued his momentum as he timed in at just under four-tenths off Lorenzo’s early weekend marker.

“The first impressions of Silverstone are very positive. It’s a technical track, very fast and I had a lot of fun riding here today,” explained the 23-year-old. “There are different kinds of asphalt but this is not an issue, the main difficulty is the bumps. There are many bumps and it’s difficult to control the bike because of these.

“I’m happy that I managed to interpret the track layout quite quickly from the beginning of the session. I had a good feeling with the bike and I think that we are starting from a good base. I also think there is a lot of room of improvement and we didn’t push too much at the end because it started raining.

“We didn’t test the new frame we have available here because it was important to learn the new circuit first. I hope we will have dry conditions tomorrow and for race day.”

Frenchman Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) had set the pace at the start of the session and eventually placed fourth on the timesheet, fractionally under a tenth off Dovizioso as he displayed a consistent race pace.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will be hoping to take advantage of the fact that this is a new track for all and the rookie was fifth. His first run on the layout placed him 1.259 secs. off Lorenzo and he will take great encouragement from the session, in which he placed ahead of Mugello race winner Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa by almost four-tenths.

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) was only two-thousandths further back in seventh.

Top 10 times were also recorded by Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing), Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro).

Shoya Tomizawa took prime position on the timesheet in the first Moto2 free practice at Silverstone on Friday, setting a fastest lap of 2:28.020 on a wet track as the spots of rain that had started to fall lightly at the end of the MotoGP session turned heavier throughout the Moto2 hour.

The Technomag-CIP rider, who is currently second in the Championship standings, was 0.582 secs. faster than Australian Anthony West (MZ Racing) in the complicated conditions, with Xavier Simeon – who is substituting for the injured Yannick Guerra on the Holiday Gym G22 team this weekend – third at just over a tenth further back.

In form and coming off the back of his first ever World Championship GP win at Mugello, Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) was quick off the mark at Silverstone as he set the best time in the opening 125cc practice session of the AirAsia British Grand Prix with a lap of 2:15.835 on the new circuit.

MotoGP Practice Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 2:05.991
2. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 2:06.133
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 2:06.347
4. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 2:06.439
5. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 2:07.250
6. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 2:07.586
7. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 2:07.588
8. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 2:07.927
9. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 2:07.951
10. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 2:08.300
11. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 2:08.452
12. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 2:08.525
13. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 2:08.666
14. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda 2:09.639
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 2:09.805
16. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 2:10.227