MotoGP News
Date:
20/April/2013
Honda riders, led by MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez, filled the
top three places during Friday practice for the inaugural Circuit of the
Americas MotoGP.
Yamaha team-mates and title leaders Jorge Lorenzo and
Valentino Rossi were best of the rest, but concerned by the size of the gap
that opened up as track conditions improved.
Lorenzo had been just 0.25s behind Marquez in the morning,
but that ballooned to 1.6s during the afternoon. That in turn allowed Marquez’s
Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa and even LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl to
shuffle ahead of Lorenzo.
“In the morning I was surprised to be so close to Marc, but
this afternoon when the track improved they improved much more than us,” said
Lorenzo, winner of round one in Qatar. “
“We have a lot of problems on the entry to corners. I don’t
have confidence. It looks like the Hondas can turn much more easily. They can
open the throttle and pick the bike up sooner. We have to stay a lot longer on
lean angle with no grip on the rear.
“But I’m positive. Anything is possible and if we can
improve the bike we can get much closer tomorrow.”
Marquez and Honda also held the advantage during a private
test attended by a handful of top riders in March. However Rossi, fifth and
1.8s from Marquez on Friday, admitted they had hoped to be closer.
"Unfortunately today the Hondas are very fast. Big difference,”
said the Italian, runner-up to Lorenzo on his Yamaha race return in Qatar. “We
thought and we hoped to be closer.
“Especially Marquez is very fast but also Pedrosa and Bradl
are faster than us so we have to work to try and recover the disadvantage. We
suffer too much with a lack of grip. It looks like it will be more difficult for
us here than in Qatar."
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